Jombang, East Java. Five prominent Muslim figures are competing to become the next chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Indonesia’s largest Muslim organization, as its national congress entered a crucial stage in East Java on Monday.

Hundreds of congress participants cast ballots in a preliminary vote to select five candidates who would advance to the next stage of the leadership election.

Abdul Hakim Mahfudz, popularly known as Gus Kikin and the leader of the Tebuireng Islamic boarding school, topped the ballot with 472 votes, well ahead of the other contenders.

According to the organizing committee, the candidates will undergo administrative screening before the final selection by nine senior clerics who make up the ahlul halli wal aqdi.

The council serves as a representative body of senior religious figures empowered to make key decisions for NU, including determining its chairman.

The other leading candidates in the preliminary ballot were Mustafa Zulfa Mustafa with 262 votes, Abdul Salam Sohib with 261, incumbent chairman Yahya Cholil Staquf with 258, and Agrarian Affairs Minister Nusron Wahid with 207.

However, Nusron is administratively ineligible to run for NU chairman while serving in the cabinet unless he resigns from his ministerial position.

His place among the five candidates was therefore taken by Abdul Ghofur Rozin, who received the next-highest tally with 155 votes.

The five candidates advancing in the leadership contest are Gus Kikin, Mustafa Zulfa Mustafa, Abdul Salam Sohib, Yahya Cholil Staquf, and Abdul Ghofur Rozin.

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