The Pramono-Rano pair emerged victorious, winning 50.07% of the votes, therefore avoiding a runoff election. The pair also won all six administrative areas. However, the election had the lowest voter turnout ever since the beginning of direct gubernatorial elections in Jakarta.
The gubernatorial election for Jakarta, uniquely for Indonesia's local elections, required a runoff should no candidates achieve a simple majority.[4] It is possible for a candidate to run uncontested, in which case the candidate is still required to win a majority of votes "against" an "empty box" option. Should the candidate fail to do so, the election will be repeated on a later date.[5]
Candidates
Under regulations, only political parties having 22 seats or more in the Jakarta Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) can put forward a candidate. Following the 2024 general election, no parties won 22 or more seats in the DPRD, and so coalitions will be required to nominate a candidate.[6] Candidates may alternatively run if they have gathered at least 618,968 copies of identity cards from local residents, which will be verified by the General Elections Commission (KPU).[7]
On 25 June 2024, the Prosperous Justice Party, the largest party in the DPRD following the 2024 election, announced that the party will be endorsing Anies Baswedan (former governor of Jakarta in 2017–2022 and 2024 presidential candidate) with PKS executive and former leader Sohibul Iman as running mate.[8] The issue of Anies candidacy reportedly showed that PKS is open to be partnered with any political parties.[9] On 22 July 2024, the National Democrat Party declared its endorsement for Anies Baswedan for the 2024 Jakarta gubernatorial election.[10]
In August, however, both Nasdem and PKS withdrew their endorsements of Anies.[11]
On 21 August 2024, the Labour Party officially declared its stance of nominating Anies Baswedan as a prospective gubernatorial candidate in the 2024 Jakarta gubernatorial election. The Labor Party supports Anies pairing up with Basuki Tjahaja Purnama or more commonly known as Ahok, Rano Karno, or Hendrar Prihadi.[12]
Declared
These are candidates who have been found to be eligible to run by gaining enough support from political parties or citizens:
After media speculations foreshadowing his candidacy,[13]Ridwan Kamil, known popularly as Kang Emil, declared his candidacy to run for Governor of Jakarta. His candidacy was supported by the Advanced Indonesia Coalition along with other parties such as PKS, PKB, PPP, and NasDem which was dubbed as KIM plus. He will be officially announced as a gubernatorial candidate in the near future along with the deputy gubernatorial candidate who is still in the process of being selected by the coalition.[14]
Emil's candidacy is viewed as a strategic move due to his high popularity in Bandung as mayor and in West Java as governor. He had successfully ruled as mayor for 2 terms and governor for one term. In his campaign, he stressed the need for a healthy competition in a democracy, as he criticize the prospect of an election where only one candidate stands or having to face an empty ballot box.[15]
Emil was recommended by Golkar, the party he has become a member since 2021, to run for Governor. He gained a wide support within the Advanced Indonesia Coalition and outside of the coalition. However, he is still waiting for the official announcement regarding who will be his running mate as vice governor candidate.[16] When asked about his running mate, Emil told the media that his running mate will came from Advanced Indonesia Coalition plus members with the initial of 'S'.[17] It was later revealed that Ridwan Kamil had chosen former Minister of AgricultureSuswono as his running mate[18] and the pair will be declared on 19 August 2024.[19]
Lecturer at the National Institute of Science and Technology
Five independent candidates expressed interest in registering. Only one of the five, former three-star police (comissary) general Dharma Pongrekun, who retired in 2024, submitted the required documents. According to KPU, Pongrekun submitted over 840 thousand proofs of support by the provided deadline.[20][21] Pongrekun is running with Kun Wardana Abyoto, an academic.[22] Their candidacy is pending their submitted documents being verified until 29 May 2024.[23] In June 2024, KPU announced the discovery of issues within Pongrekun's supporting documents, and suspended his candidacy pending fixes.[24] His candidacy was confirmed by KPU on 15 August 2024.[25]
After KPU's announcement of Pongrekun's candidacy, claims emerged on social media that identity card numbers registered as Pongrekun's supporters had been obtained without consent.[26][27]
On 28 August, Pramono Anung and Rano Karno officially registered to run for governor and vice governor. Before PDI-P announced them as running governor and vice governor, they had several candidates in mind to smoothly run against Kotak Kosong or empty ballot, such like Anies Baswedan and Basuki Tjahaja Purnama.[28]
Initially, Anies Baswedan became PDI-P's presumptive nominee as both Anies and PDI-P traded praises and interests.[29] His candidacy was further strengthened after the Constitutional Court's ruling nullifies the need of a 20% parliament threshold.[30] Rumours of his nomination became stronger as Anies visited the party headquarters and met Rano Karno on 26 August 2024.[31] The meeting then sparked a rumor that both Anies-Rano will be nominated as PDI-P's candidate.[32] Responding to such rumours, 2024 presidential candidateGanjar Pranowo states that the party is still weighing their options but states his preference in favor of their own party cadres instead while Djarot Saiful Hidayat said that Anies was one of the considered candidates that includes Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, Pramono Anung, and Rano Karno.[33]
However, PDI-P eventually did not nominate Anies as their candidate as PDI-P nominated Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung with Rano Karno acted as vice governor candidate.[34] This decision was officially announced by party treasurer and former Governor of North SulawesiOlly Dondokambey, states that Pramono-Rano will be nominated as PDI-P's candidate.[35] Despite wearing red clothes that associated with the party and went to visit the party headquarters, Anies Baswedan was not present during the announcement, sparking speculations that PDI-P and Anies had parted ways.[36] Pramono-Rano then registered themselves as candidates for the election on 28 August 2024.[37]
The following are notable individuals who have been mentioned as a potential candidate or expressed interest to run in the 2024 Jakarta gubernatorial election, prior to the opening of registration for the pairs of candidates for Governor and Vice Governor.
Ridwan Kamil (RK) campaigned on a direct cash disbursement program to individual communities (Rukun warga) in Jakarta, the expansion of community and cultural events such as festivals and car free days, programs to support senior citizens, and provision of mobile psychological counsellors.[91] Kamil also campaigned on internship and housing suitable for the Generation Z, in addition to unemployment benefits for three months for those whose work was terminated, while touting his closeness with the then president-elect Prabowo Subianto in realizing his programs.[92][93] On the campaign trail, he decided to sell his paintings in order to add on his campaign funds.[94]
Pramono Anung promised to revitalize the city's community halls to be leasable by local residents for public activities, alongside expansion of the city's public transportation, biking, and CCTV infrastructures.[91] He pursued "happy-go-lucky politics" (politik riang gembira) during the campaign trail and didn't want to disrupt his opponents; he used such strategy to reduce "divisions that occur in community groups".[95]
Three rounds of candidate debates were scheduled by KPU, held on 6 and 27 October, and the final debate on 17 November.[96]
Tabulated quick count results pointed a Pramono-Rano victory, but were unsure on whether the election would have a second round. Three quick count sources (Charta Politika, Lembaga Survei Indonesia, and Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting) pointed to a majority, whereas the other three (Indikator Politik Indonesia, Litbang Kompas, and Lingkaran Survei Indonesia (LSI) Denny JA) pointed to a plurality, therefore necessitating a runoff. The Ridwan-Suswono camp was optimistic that the election would go to a second round, backed by their internal quick counts.[125]Ridwan Kamil subsequently called for voters to wait for the results until its certification.[126] Meanwhile, the Pramono-Rano campaign was generally optimistic for a first round victory, and former governor Anies Baswedan rebuked Ridwan-Suswono camp's claims, saying, "This is not a weather forecast, so just look at the data and see the facts."[127]
After the certification of the election results by the Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPU Jakarta) on 8 December 2024, celebrations broke out at the Hotel Indonesia Roundabout, where supporters and the campaign team of the Pramono-Rano pair declared victory, with the treasurer of the campaign team, Charles Honoris, said, "Thank you for the people of Jakarta who have trusted Mas Pram and Bang Doel. After their inauguration, they will be working hard on solving Jakarta's problems."[128] He hoped that the pair's rivals, Ridwan-Suswono and Dharma-Kun, would accept KPU Jakarta's decision.[129] Former governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama had communicated with the pair about KPU Jakarta's decision and was thankful that the pair won in the first round as expected.[130] Former governor Anies Baswedan, tweeted, "Congratulations for the victory of the people of Jakarta! God willing, Jakarta is lightning up!"[131]
The head of the Pramono-Rano campaign team, Cak Lontong, said that Dharma Pongrekun had congratulated the pair for winning the elections through the campaign team; Dharma himself rejected this, instead it was his spokesperson Ikhsan Tualeka that congratulated them.[132][133] Subsequently, Dharma hoped that the newly elected governor will make Jakarta's air cleaner and make sure that there will be no more pandemics hitting Jakarta.[134]
The Ridwan-Suswono camp objected the election results, with witnesses from the camp walking out on the day of the certification. They alleged that KPU Jakarta was not professional in the handling of the election, with the distribution of the election invitation cards they considered problematic, and wanted a rerun of the election in areas where they considered the distribution of forms to be problematic. The coordinator of the campaign team, Ramdan Alamsyah, said, "We will submit it to the Constitutional Court for us to seek justice, which is what we really should get."[135] The Constitutional Court allowed for disputes to be filed pertaining to the election results for up to 3 days since the certification. However, no representative of each election camp filed election disputes to the court by the deadline.[136] After the Jakarta Regional People's Representative Council confirmed the Pramono-Rano pair, Suswono, who represented Ridwan Kamil as he was away, said, "Yes, his message earlier was that the aspirations conveyed by the people of Jakarta through RIDO (Ridwan Kamil and Suswono) could be conveyed by the elected governor."[137]
Analysis
The victory of the Pramono-Rano pair was attributed by the support of former governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (Ahok), and later on, the late endorsement of Anies Baswedan, both of which were rivals in the previous elections and had high electability levels based on surveys. Anies' endorsement, termed the "Anies effect", was perhaps important in Pramono's victory, as argued by political analyst Arif Nurul Imam, who said, "The endorsement factor from figures who support Pram and Rano Karno, including the Anies Baswedan factor. We know that Anies Baswedan's endorsement certainly has an impact on the electoral map in Jakarta. Given that Anies Baswedan is a former Governor of Jakarta, he has a mass base or loyalists in Jakarta."[138]Mardani Ali Sera of the Prosperous Justice Party -- Anies' former coalition partner -- admitted that the "Anies effect" had a role in influencing the election, while declining findings that Ahok's endorsement increased Pramono's electability.[139]
Survey organization Indonesian Politics Parameter (Parameter Politik Indonesia, PPI) disclosed four factors that led to Pramono-Rano's victory:[140]
the Pramono-Rano campaign team had a more aggressive party machine that helped the pair, along with the massive installations of campaign props and social media publications;
the consolidation of voters of Anies Baswedan from 2017 and 2024 towards the pair after their meeting around mid-November 2024;
Suswono's gaffe on a joke pertaining to a rich widow; and
the background of the large coalition backing the Ridwan-Suswono pair which was not considered representative of Jakarta.
Voter turnout was the lowest ever since direct gubernatorial elections were instituted in Jakarta, at 57.52%; this was a large decrease compared to the previous gubernatorial election and general election's turnout at 77.02% and 78.3%, respectively. This reflected voters' disappointment during the candidate registration process, despite the more lenient candidate nomination process. In addition, there was a record percentage of invalid and blank votes at 7.70%, five times of the general election's, attributed to protest votes, particularly on the movement to vote for all three, thus making it invalid.[141]
^Subarkah, Tri (1 March 2024). "KPU Tunduk pada UU Pilkada soal Jadwal Pilkada 2024" [KPU Complies with Regional Election Law on 2024 Regional Election Schedule]. Media Indonesia (in Indonesian). Retrieved 27 November 2024.