Ahok now has more Jakartans backing him to run as an independent than people who voted for PKS in 2014 general elections

Photo: temanahok.com

Teman Ahok (friends of Ahok), a non-partisan political group that’s trying to get Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama to run as an
independent candidate in the 2017 gubernatorial elections, released their update on how many Jakartans they’ve managed to round up to support Ahok so far.

As of November 21, the group has impressively amassed 425,648 Indonesian ID cards (KTP) from Jakartans who are backing Ahok. That number is higher than the number of people who voted for the Properous Justice Party (PKS) in the 2014 general elections, which was 424,400.

“Alhamdulillah, thanks to all the volunteers, we have surpassed PKS,” said Teman Ahok coordinator Singgih Widyastono, as quoted by Vivanews today.

PKS is one of the biggest political parties in Jakarta. It emerged as the party with the most votes in Jakarta during the 2004 general elections.

Teman Ahok has ambitions to collect 1 million KTPs from Jakarta residents who support Ahok. Ahok previously needed around 750 thousand KTPs to run as a gubernatorial candidate without the backing of a political party in 2017, but that number was reduced to 525 thousand after a recent Constitutional Court ruling.

This means that Teman Ahok needs just 100 thousand more KTPs to nominate Ahok before July 2016. That shouldn’t be much of a problem since they have already collected over 425 thousand since July 2015.

What would be even more impressive, as unlikely as it may seem, is if Teman Ahok can surpass the 1.2 million people who voted for the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), which won the most votes in Jakarta in the 2014 general elections.