Jakarta. The Golkar Party will appoint a businessman as a running mate for Kaesang Pangarep, the youngest son of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, if he runs in the Jakarta gubernatorial election in November, party chairman Airlangga Hartarto said on Thursday.

Golkar has selected businessman Jusuf Hamka as a potential vice-gubernatorial candidate to accompany Kaesang, Airlangga said.

"In due time, if Brother Kaesang decides to contest in Jakarta, I have prepared a Golkar executive, Babah Alun, who has extensive experience in infrastructure development,” Airlangga said in a joint conference with Kaesang, using Jusuf’s nickname.

"The Golkar Party will fully support Brother Kaesang’s election bid," he added.

Jusuf was selected as the running mate because Jakarta’s main challenge is infrastructure, said Airlangga, who is also the chief economic minister in the Jokowi cabinet.

"As a city with a population of over 10 million, Jakarta must be able to compete against other big cities in the world," Airlangga said at the Golkar Party headquarters in Jakarta.

However, the party still has two months to pick a candidate for Jakarta and will evaluate the candidates’ electability from various pollsters before making a decision, he said.

Kaesang, chairman of the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI), thanked Airlangga for the support and revealed plans to continue his tour to the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

Kaesang said House of Representatives Speaker Puan Maharani, the daughter of PDI-P Chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri, has agreed to host a meeting with him.

Prior to his Golkar visit, Kaesang met with executives of the Muslim-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), which is widely considered a staunch critic of his father’s government.

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