Jakarta. The National Awakening Party (PKB) is considering nominating Tourism Minister Sandiaga Uno for the West Java gubernatorial election, a party executive said on Thursday.

PKB is currently monitoring Sandiaga’s electability to run in the country’s most populous province before making the final decision, said PKB Deputy Chairman Jazilul Fawaid. 

“And then we need to know if he accepts our nomination,” Jazilul said at the PKB headquarters in Jakarta. “For PKB, Mr. Sandi is a worthy candidate we can offer to the people in West Java.”

PKB will soon establish a coalition with other parties to meet the parliamentary threshold for nominating a gubernatorial candidate, he added.

Sandiaga was elected the vice governor of Jakarta in the 2017 election but he vacated the position two years later to become a running mate for presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto.

After losing the presidential election, he was hired into President Joko Widodo’s cabinet as the tourism minister.

Sandiaga departed from Prabowo’s Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) ahead of the 2024 presidential election and joined the United Development Party (PPP), which later failed to win a seat in the national legislature for the first time in its history.

Sandiaga said recently he hasn’t received an assignment from PPP to contest the November 27 gubernatorial elections across the country and will focus on his ministerial job.