Formulating the Ideal Combination of Presidential and Vice Presidential Candidates for 2024

The role of a vice president is certainly not just a “seat tire” for the president. It is not surprising that in determining the combination of presidential and cawapres candidates, there are many factors that are taken into account by the bearer party. The tug-of-war of interests to gain votes and the need to respond to the challenges of the times often makes the decision to determine a vice presidential candidate pair not as easy as turning the palm of the hand.

It’s still fresh in my memory how the moment of determining the presidential and vice presidential candidates in the previous election changed at the last minute. By calculations presidential threshold and only PDIP has pocketed the presidential election ticket, coalition negotiations will be stuck when political parties set a fixed price in carrying their own candidates as presidential or cawapres candidates. Meanwhile, even though the PDI-P has been able to nominate its own running mate and advance Ganjar Pranowo as a presidential candidate, the party with the bull logo has yet to determine a partner for its champion.

“I said that many of my trains wanted to get on. So, just wait some more. Lots how come (name, Red) I already have here. How many yeah, 10 what more. Yes later right narrowed down by myself, but by my thoughts,” said the general chairperson of the PDIP, Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Tracing the history of leadership in Indonesia, the president and vice president are a combination or collaboration between several characteristics, such as ethnicity, ideology, to profession.

The First President of Indonesia, Ir. Soekarno

In the Old Order era, for example, Soekarno and Mohammad Hatta often became symbols of Javanese and non-Javanese ethnicity which also symbolized the spirit of unity of the archipelago. The combination of Javanese and non-Javanese also occurred during the Soeharto era, such as when he was paired with Adam Malik and BJ Habibie. The combination is also a symbol of collaboration between the military and civilians

In the reformation era, Abdurrahman Wahid paired with Megawati became a symbol of Islamic and nationalist collaboration. In contrast, the era of Megawati and Hamzah Haz became a symbol of Islamic nationalism.

During the Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono era, when pairing with Jusuf Kalla was seen as a military-civilian collaboration as well as Javanese and non-Javanese.

Finally, during the Joko Widodo era, the combination of Javanese and non-Javanese occurred in the first period with Jusuf Kalla who was also a nationalist-Islamic symbol, as was the case with Ma’ruf Amin who was also a nationalist-Islamic symbol.

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