The search for Jakarta’s vice governor has finally come to a close, after a vote held at the Jakarta City Council (DPRD) today resulted in the appointment of Ahmad Riza Patria to fill the seat next to Governor Anies Baswedan.
Despite the state of emergency having been extended in the capital, 100 DPRD councillors went ahead with a plenary meeting earlier today to select Anies’ second-in-command, which was down to either Riza, who is from Gerindra party, and Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) politician Nurmansjah Lubis.
Riza secured 81 votes, while his opponent Nurmansjah gained 17 votes, with two votes considered invalid during the process.
The vice governor seat has been left vacant since August 2018, when former vice governor Sandiaga Uno, who’s also a politician with Gerindra, resigned to be Gerindra chairman Prabowo Subianto’s running mate in their failed 2019 presidential bid.
Fifty-year-old Riza started his political career with Gerindra and was involved in Prabowo-Sandi’s camp during last year’s presidential election. He has been a lawmaker since 2014, and had been serving as the vice chairman of Commission V in the House of Representatives (DPR) as well as heading the Gerindra fraction in People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR), prior to today’s appointment.
Riza was allegedly involved in a corruption case back in 2005 while he was serving as one of the division heads at Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPUD). Along with fellow Gerindra politician and current Jakarta DPRD Deputy Speaker M. Taufik, he was charged with misappropriating funds in the procurement of goods and services in the 2004 general elections, but was later acquitted.
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