Parties backing Indonesia's Prabowo close ranks to thwart rival's Jakarta governor bid

By Ananda Teresia and Stanley Widianto

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Parties backing President-elect Prabowo Subianto on Monday rallied behind a single candidate for governor of the capital Jakarta, effectively killing off chances of his arch rival Anies Baswedan being re-elected to the politically important post.

Their nomination of Ridwan Kamil is widely interpreted as a show of force for Prabowo's big-tent coalition, which now includes parties who initially supported Anies, who was Jakarta governor from 2017-2022 and ran against Prabowo in this year's presidential election.

Former academic Anies was Prabowo's most outspoken critic and had contested the outcome of the February 14 ballot, alleging the current administration had colluded with Prabowo to ensure he won and warning Indonesia's democracy was under threat. Prabowo and the government rejected that.

Though Anies has led opinion polls for Jakarta's gubernatorial contest by a big margin, 10 of the 11 parties in the regional legislature on Monday announced their backing for Ridwan, the former governor of Indonesia's most populous province of West Java, who was once on Prabowo's campaign team.

To be nominated, Anies needs the backing of a party or parties with more than 22 seats, which he cannot get. The contest will likely be between Ridwan and independent candidate, Dharma Pongrekun.

The Jakarta governorship is seen as a springboard for higher office, with outgoing President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo a previous holder of the post in 2014.

The team of Anies declined to comment on Monday.

GROWING CLOUT

The move underlines the extent of Prabowo's consolidation of power since he won the election by a massive margin, helped by Jokowi's tacit backing, popularity and huge political clout after a decade in charge.

Defence Minister Prabowo, 72, last week secured a parliamentary majority giving his administration control of 52% of parliament, up from 43% previously.

Jokowi has been helping to smooth the way for his successor with a series of appointments to cabinet and other state agencies of Prabowo loyalists, in what is widely seen as a quid-pro-quo that will allow the outgoing leader to retain influence once he makes way.

Anies' election complaint was dismissed by the Constitutional Court, which in October - when headed by Jokowi's brother in law - had changed election eligibility rules, enabling Jokowi's son to become Prabowo's running mate and giving him a surging lead in opinion polls.

According to some analysts, Ridwan's nomination was aimed at denying Anies a platform should he decide to run again for president in 2029.

"Not only does it reduce support for Anies, this stops Anies from becoming Jakarta governor. Running for president becomes harder for him," said Ujang Komarudin, a politics expert.

(Reporting by Stanley Widianto, Ananda Teresia, and Stefanno Sulaiman; Editing by Martin Petty)