VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

President Joko Widodo, in his bid to seek reelection, has planned to register himself as a candidate at the General Election Commission (KPU) at 9 a.m. local time on Friday. In connection with this, he called on his supporters in Jakarta on Thursday to not join him en masse.

"Tomorrow morning, God willing, we will come to the KPU to register, and we urge the people to not come there en masse to accompany us," he remarked after meeting with Vice President Jusuf Kalla at the latter`s office.

"There is no need to blow it out of proportion as we are still mourning now," he noted while referring to the earthquake victims on Lombok Island.

"As we are still mourning for our brothers in West Nusa Tenggara Province, perhaps, I will go straight there after registering," he stated.

Kalla said he had planned to visit Lombok to ensure that evacuation was being conducted optimally, and the impacts of the quake had also been handled well. 

For the second term, Joko Widodo has  made a surprise move when announcing his running mate in Jakarta on Thursday because the people-at-large cannot predict it until it is publicly conveyed.  Finally, President Joko Widodo and the coalition parties supporting his efforts to grab a victory in the 2019 Presidential Election had selected Ma`ruf Amin.

Meanwhile On the same day at 11.30 pm West Indonesia Time, Prabowo Subianto, another candidate to run for President in 2019,  announced Sandiaga Uno would be his running mate to challenge the Joko Widodo-Ma`ruf Amin pair, and they would register at the General Election Commission (KPU) after the Friday prayer (Aug.10) ( ant )