Prabowo-Hatta Duo Expected to Win Presidential Poll

Jakarta (Antara) - Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto will win the July 9 poll if he picks National Mandate Party (PAN) chairman Hatta Rajasa as his running mate, a political observer had predicted. The results of surveys conducted by pollsters showed that the presidential candidate Joko "Jokowi" Widodo of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) and Prabowo were the most popular and had the highest electability, Bawono Kumoro of the Habibie Center said here on Thursday. "It was expected that Prabowo will become Jokowi's strongest contender in the upcoming presidential election," he said. Competition in the presidential poll will be tough as all the presidential candidates will be nominated by coalitions of political parties, he added. According to different quick vote counts, no political party garnered more than 20 percent of the votes cast in the April 9 legislative election. The Presidential Election Law requires a political party or a coalition of parties to win a minimum 25 percent of the popular vote or 20 percent of the seats in the House of Representatives to nominate a presidential candidate. Bawono said Prabowo should find a competent and popular figure as his running mate to increase his vote tally in the presidential poll. "Among the candidates who were expected to team up with Pak (Mr) Prabowo, I think Pak Hatta Rajasa was the most suited to be his running mate," he said. He added that Prabowo, who was a former commandant general of the Army's elite force command (Kopassus), had experience in the military field but lacked that in the bureaucracy. On the other hand, Hatta Rajasa, who is currently the chief economic minister, has experience in the bureaucracy and a good track record, he said. (*) Reporting by Riza Harahap