Pop stars, model, prince’s ex-wife: meet the Indonesian election’s most colourful candidates
- At least 91 candidates in Wednesday’s elections to the House of Representatives are from the entertainment world
- They range from musicians to film stars to dangdut singers
Two pop stars and a former model who was once married to a Malaysian prince are among a slew of Indonesian celebrities who have added a touch of glamour to Wednesday’s general elections by running as candidates.
The singers Krisdayanti and Riefian Fajarsyah (better known as Ifan), and the former model/actress Manohara Odelia Pinot are vying with nearly 8,000 candidates from 16 national political parties for 575 seats up for grabs in the House of Representatives (DPR).
Apart from the national parliament, an estimated 192 million Indonesians will also vote for their next president and vice-president, as well as members of local and regional parliaments on the same day.
Ifan, 36, from pop band Seventeen, said he decided to run for public office after losing his wife and several bandmates to a tsunami last year. The band was performing at a beach on December 22, when a tsunami in the Sunda Strait hit the coastal areas, killing about 600 people.
He will be running in West Kalimantan province on a National Awakening Party ticket for a DPR seat.
In an Instagram video post on February 27, Ifan appealed for support from voters in the constituency, saying he would fight for their aspirations in parliament.