Ridwan Kamil's recent meeting with Megawati Soekarnoputri sparked speculation that the former Governor of West Java would be paired with the prospective presidential candidate (capres) Ganjar Pranowo.
However, in an official statement, PDI-P Secretary General Hasto Kristiyanto stated that the Megawati-Ridwan Kamil meeting only discussed development issues.
If Ganjar is indeed paired with Ridwan Kamil, will they be able to garner many votes?
Kompas Research and Development (Litbang Kompas) has conducted simulations on a number of potential vice-presidential candidates (cawapres) considered to be potential running mates for Ganjar in the 2024 Presidential Election.
As a result, the electability simulation of the Ganjar-Ridwan Kamil pairing received the highest number of votes, namely 34.8% of respondents. However, the Ganjar-Erick Thohir pairing also received the same proportion of votes.
Below that, the Ganjar-Mahfud MD pairing received lower electability, namely 33.9%. This was followed by the Ganjar-Sandiaga Uno pairing with 33.7%.
Meanwhile, if Ganjar is paired with the Chairman of the Democratic Party, Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono or AHY, they were able to obtain 32.5% of respondent votes.
From this survey, the Kompas Litbang team assessed that Ridwan Kamil is not the only Ganjar cawapres candidate with strong electability.
"Besides the lack of guaranteed superiority, simulations of such pairings have not shown a differentiating aspect or differentiation of the respective strengths of each figure if paired with Ganjar," wrote the Kompas Litbang team in their report on Tuesday (12/9/2023).
This Kompas Litbang survey involved 1,364 respondents who were randomly selected using a stratified systematic sampling method in 38 Indonesian provinces.
Data collection was conducted from July 27 to August 7, 2023, through face-to-face interviews. The margin of error is approximately 2.65% and the confidence level is 95%.
(See also: Presidential Candidate Survey by Polling Institute: Prabowo and Ganjar's Electability Compete, Anies Lags Behind)