Indonesia: Airlangga Re-elected Golkar Chairman by Acclamation

• As many have predicted, Airlangga Hartarto was re-elected as chairman of the Golkar Party by acclamation on 4 Dec 19 evening, after main rival Bambang Soesatyo dropped his candidacy.
• None of the leaders of Golkar’s regional chapters stepped up to challenge Airlangga’s re-election bid during the party’s national congress at the Ritz Charlton Hotel in South Jakarta. Each of them proposed that Airlangga be reappointed as chairman until 2024.
• Airlangga, 57, has been leading Golkar since Dec 17. He had replaced Setya Novanto, who was forced to leave the post prematurely after being convicted of corruption.
• Securing the top post in Indonesia’s second-largest party is a double-win for Airlangga, who also got a promotion from President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in Oct 19 to become the new coordinating minister for the economy.
• His only potential hurdle in Golkar was Bambang, the speaker of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR), the country’s highest law-making body.
• But Bambang decided to drop his bid for the Golkar chairmanship mere hours before the congress started on 3 Dec 19 after a meeting with Airlangga brokered by another Golkar powerhouse, the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Pandjaitan.
• That left Airlangga as the only central figure during the congress and he became so popular that several party executives asked him to run for the 2024 presidential election.

External Link : https://jakartaglobe.id/news/airlangga-reelected-golkar-chairman-by-acclamation