Indonesia election 2024: can Ganjar Pranowo force a run-off as bid for ‘total victory’ dries up?

With days to go before the February 14 polls, a clear win for the ruling party’s presidential pick appears all but impossible, even as supporters hold out hope

His best chance to contend with Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto and ex-Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan is by forcing the election to a second round

Reading Time:4 minutes

Indonesian presidential candidate Ganjar Pranowo speaks to reporters at a rally in Jakarta on February 3. Photo: Vemmy Widowati

Amy Soodin JakartaandResty Woro Yuniarin Jakarta

Published: 11:00am, 4 Feb 2024Updated: 12:23pm, 4 Feb 2024

A year ago, Indonesian presidential candidate Ganjar Pranowo had seemed to be the obvious front runner for the country’s top job.

On Saturday, he and former security minister Mohammad Mahfud held a boisterous rock concert and rally taglined “Menang Total”, or “Total Victory”, but a clear win with just 10 days to the Indonesia elections appears all but impossible as the duo has tanked in the polls.

Tall, urbane and articulate, the former Central Java governor did not start out that way. He soared in the surveys soon after grabbing the sought-after prize of being named the presidential nominee from the country’s ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

Thousands of Indonesians turn out to support presidential candidate Ganjar Pranowo at a rally in Jakarta on February 3. Photo: Vemmy Widowati

This was the same party that elevated incumbent Joko Widodo, the country’s first president without a political or military background, through the ranks as mayor of Surakarta, to Jakarta governor, and eventually to his two terms as president.

The hope for the PDI-P was that Widodo’s popularity would rub off on Ganjar, and that he would support Ganjar’s campaign – returning the favour to the party that stood by him. But that has not been the case. Widodo’s tacit support has instead gone to front runner Prabowo Subianto, who is running with Widodo’s eldest son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka.

Despite a thundering crowd on Saturday trying to boost the campaign at one of Jakarta’s largest stadiums with non-stop rock music, performances and speeches by Ganjar and PDI-P’s powerful chairwoman Megawati Sukarnoputri, insiders said it was hard to ignore the numbers.

Ganjar’s fortunes have turned. He has less than two weeks to fight to stay in the game after having sunk to the bottom of recent opinion polls.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x