Jakarta. Newly-appointed Golkar Party Chairman Bahlil Lahadalia announced on Tuesday the party's endorsement of Airin Rachmi Diany and her running mate Ade Sumardi for the upcoming Banten gubernatorial election. The announcement comes just three days after Bahlil had stated that the party would support a rival candidate.

Airin, the former mayor of South Tangerang and a Golkar executive, was initially set to contest the election solely with the endorsement of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) following Bahlil’s earlier refusal to back her.

“Airin has garnered significant attention. She is the daughter of the Golkar Party, and it’s only natural that we stand behind her in the upcoming competition. She has strong potential to win,” Bahlil said at a news conference in Jakarta, explaining his sudden reversal.

Bahlil, who assumed leadership of Golkar just five days ago, stressed that Banten is one of the priority provinces where Golkar is determined to secure the governorship in the local elections scheduled for November 27.

On Sunday, Airin’s camp revealed that Bahlil had initially declined to endorse her and instead planned to support Andra Soni, a senior official of the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) and current speaker of the Banten provincial legislature.

Andra had secured the backing of the Advanced Indonesia Coalition (KIM), of which Golkar is a member.

The earlier decision would have presented a challenge for Airin, a long-standing Golkar member, as she would have had to campaign under the PDI-P banner.

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