Vice-presidential candidates play role in process

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The role of the vice-presidential candidates in the 2019 election has become greater.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The campaign teams of the candidate pairs participating in the presidential election in 2019 will further utilize their respective vice-presidential candidates in general meetings during the campaign period from March 24 to April 13. In the midst of the tightening race, the role of the vice presidents could still be strengthened to help determine a winner in the election.

Their roles are illustrated in results of a Kompas R&D survey conducted from late February to early March 2019, involving 2,000 respondents in 34 provinces with a margin of error of +/- 2.2 percent. As many as 71.9 percent of respondents said they voted based on the presidential candidates, compared to the relatively low figure of 9.5 percent of vice-presidential candidates.

The survey also shows that the race is narrowing. The electability of the candidate pair Joko “Jokowi” Widodo-Ma\'ruf Amin is now at 49.2 percent, up of 11.8 percent on Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno, whose electability is at 37.4 percent. In the October 2018 survey, the electability difference between the two pairs was 19.9 percent.

A researcher at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Arya Fernandes, said in Jakarta on Thursday (21/3/2019) that even though the main stars of the presidential election stage were the presidential candidates, the role of the vice-presidential candidates could not be underestimated, especially on issues in which they specialize in.

"The roles can be divided among the candidate pairs based on certain issues. For example, for candidate pair number 02, Sandi talked a lot about employment issues, entrepreneurship, while with candidate pair number 01, Amin could talk specifically about sharia economic development. So the key is the division of roles of the respective presidential candidates," he said.

Secretary of the Jokowi-Ma’ruf national campaign team Hasto Kristiyanto said that Jokowi would campaign more for the young and female voter segments, while Ma’ruf would strengthen the Islamic support bases and santri (Islamic boarding school student) groups.

During the general meetings of the campaign, Ma’ruf will go to areas where Jokowi-Amin\'s electability is still low. Besides Jakarta, Banten, Tangerang and West Java, Ma’ruf will also campaign in West Nusa Tenggara, West Sumatra and Riau.

Hasto said that Ma’ruf was not just Jokowi\'s companion or in the "second tier", but he also helped fill Jokowi\'s electoral shortcomings in some electorate segments. Amin\'s contribution to the electability of Jokowi-Amin is believed to have increased after his appearance in the third debate of the 2019 presidential election, in which the two vice-presidential candidates met on March 17, 2019.

"The people\'s spontaneous reaction was, \'Wow, it turns out that Kiai Ma\'ruf Amin is qualified.\' Previously many people did not know the extent of knowledge of Kiai Ma\'ruf Amin," said a member of the Jokowi-Amin campaign team’s advisory board, Muhaimin Iskandar.

The director of volunteers of the Jokowi-Ma’ruf campaign team, Maman Imanulhaq, predicted that Ma’ruf’s showing in the third debate of the presidential election could attract prospective voters who were undecided.

Maman expressed confidence that the attractiveness of Amin in certain voter segments and regions could help increase the electability of Jokowi-Ma’ruf. "In some regions, such as Tasikmalaya and Garut, there are those who say they choose Jokowi-Ma’ruf because Kiai Ma\'ruf Amin is there," he said.

In order to further optimize Ma’ruf’s electoral contributions, Maman further said that the candidate’s volunteer network would be increasingly active, including with young voters.

Millennial generation

Sandiaga will also ramp up the intensity of his campaign. The spokesperson for the National Winning Body of Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno, Dahnil A. Simanjuntak, revealed that Sandiaga would intensify campaign efforts among millennials and housewives. A work program offered by Prabowo-Sandiaga, he continued, was indeed targeting the two circles.

"Bang Sandi will carry out a segmented campaign by offering two main programs, namely presenting affordable prices and providing employment for the citizens. The two programs are very much needed by the housewives and young people at present," said Dahnil.

In the results of the Kompas R&D survey in March, voters under the age of 22 said they preferred Prabowo-Sandiaga, while those in other age categories preferred Jokowi-Ma’ruf.

According to Dahnil, Prabowo-Sandiaga complement each other well. As such, in public meetings of their campaign, both will be directly involved so one does not appear more dominant than the other.

Prabowo-Sandiaga will hold a public meeting in Sragen, Central Java, next Monday. West Java will be the final stop on their campaign trail on April 13. (AGE/SAN)

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