Why will Central Java be the focus of Prabowo-Sandiaga's campaign?

Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno (Prabowo-Sandiaga) plans to shift the focus of their campaign to Central Java. To win the 2019 presidential election, the presidential and vice-presidential candidates with number 02 on the ballot must be able to garner significant votes in Central Java. This province, with its capital city Semarang, is a stronghold of incumbent President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), who partnered with Jusuf Kalla (JK) in the 2014 presidential election.

According to data from the Central Java General Elections Commission (KPU), the Jokowi-JK pair received 12.96 million (66.65%) votes in the 2014 presidential election. Meanwhile, Prabowo, who partnered with Hatta Rajasa, only received 6.49 million (33.35%) votes out of a total of 19.45 million valid votes. This means Prabowo only received one-third of the votes, losing by 6.47 million votes to Jokowi, making Central Java considered one of the keys to winning the 2019 Presidential Election.

Of the 35 regencies/cities in Central Java, Jokowi won all of them. The highest percentage was achieved in Surakarta (Solo), Jokowi's hometown, reaching 84.36% of the total 337,000 valid votes. The highest number of votes was recorded in Semarang, with 624,000 votes out of a total of 918,000 valid votes.