JAKARTA – Anies Baswedan is considered highly competitive and strong if he runs in the 2024 Jakarta gubernatorial election. This has prompted political parties (parpol) to scramble in search of candidates who are comparable or nearly as strong as Anies.

Political analyst Yusak Farchan notes that Anies holds the status of incumbent Governor of Jakarta for 2017-2022. This makes him very memorable to the people of Jakarta.

It means Anies has the ease of replaying his political role in the Jakarta election.

Yusak sees Anies's presence in the Jakarta election as a hot potato for his competitors.

“If Mr. Anies runs, it could also become a hot issue for his competitors to field competitive candidates against Mr. Anies,” Yusak told in a Whatsapp call, Wednesday, May 29, 2024.

This situation is also very advantageous for Anies. Instead of being his opponents, many parpols are likely to approach and support Anies.

Moreover, Yusak observes that the electability of party cadres, especially those in the Coalition for Change, is nowhere as strong as Anies. Anies has very strong electoral appeal at both the national and regional levels.

Yusak cites an example if PKS fields its own cadre against Anies. The potential for PKS to lose is very high.

Because no PKS cadre has the popularity of Anies. The same is observed by Yusak in NasDem.

“Names from within PKS cadres to this day, as far as I see, are still not competitive if facing a figure like Mr. Anies,” he stated.

On this basis, Yusak feels that the parpols in the change coalition will automatically support Anies if he runs in the Jakarta gubernatorial election.

“And if Mr. Anies runs, PKS (change coalition party) might support him too,” he concluded.

He is Ready

Political analyst from Charta Politika, Yunarto Wijaya, says Anies Baswedan already has substantial capital to run in the Jakarta gubernatorial election.

Anies is considered to have made significant political investments in Jakarta during the last Presidential election.

Moreover, Anies's status as the incumbent Governor of Jakarta for the period 2017-2022 also serves as very good capital. This makes Anies's chances very large to win the Jakarta gubernatorial election.

“No matter what, an incumbent has the largest investment capital, both political and social,” Yunarto was quoted by KBA News from Nusantara TV YouTube, Wednesday, May 29, 2024.

Yunarto sees, Anies's position as the runner-up in the last Presidential election is a form of political consolidation.

The change figure has made large investments in Jakarta during the Presidential campaign.

“Even though he lost, the battle in the last Presidential election was a form of political consolidation for Mr. Anies, including in Jakarta,” he said.

He mentioned that Anies must recalculate regarding the upcoming Jakarta gubernatorial election. Although being the most potential figure, efforts to thwart his political career could still occur.

“Mr. Anies has certainly calculated and looked at survey results. It can still be said that his chances are great,” Yunarto stated.

“And if asked who the competitor who can compete with Anies is, surveys state there is only one name, Ridwan Kamil,” he concluded.