REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BANDUNG ---Former Governor of West Java Ridwan Kamil is considered to be one of the important variables that made the Golkar Party's vote in Jabar advance in the 2024 general election (general election).

Based on the quick count (quick count) of the 2024 legislative election released by pollster Indikator Politik Indonesia with a total of 86.40 percent of the votes cast since 00:30 a.m., the Golkar Party took the second place with 14.75 percent of the vote.

Ridwan Kamil, who was appointed as Co-Chair of the Election Commission (Bappilu) of Golkar Party, was considered to be one of the important variables in boosting the votes of this banana-tree party. Especially in the province of Jabar.

Political observer from Padjadjaran University (Unpad), Firman Manan said that the Chairman of the Regional Campaign Team (TKD) Prabowo-Gibran Jabar was one of the influential variables. “That's right (Ridwan Kamil exerts significant influence),” Firman Manan said when confirmed on Thursday (15/2/2024).

Firman Manan acknowledges that Ridwan Kamil's significant influence on the electability of the Golkar Party is inseparable from Ridwan Kamil's own background.

It is known that in addition to leading Jabar for five years, Ridwan Kamil is also very popular among the Jabar community. In fact, Ridwan Kamil has tens of millions of followers on his social media to make him a media darling. “It's true (those factors that made Ridwan Kamil exert a significant influence),” he said.

However, Firman Manan also acknowledged that Ridwan Kamil was not the only variable that made the Golkar Party's vote skewed in Jabar. According to him, the electability of the Golkar Party is also affected by the large number of popular candidates who have a mass base in their respective constituencies (constituencies).

“Of course it is not a single variable because we need to see also the candidates who are advancing in the Golkar Party that are also a lot of popular people, have a mass base in each of their constituencies, that is also influential,” he said.

In addition, Firman assesses, the Golkar Party under the leadership of Airlangga Hartarto is very solid to the grassroots. Thus, the party machine moves according to the goals set by the Golkar Party.

“I also see that this Golkar in the 2024 presidential election is relatively solid and usually there is a conflict, this time it is solid under the leadership of Airlangga Hartarto, this is also what makes its political machine work,” he said.

Therefore, Firman said, there are three variables that boost the Golkar Party's vote in this 2024 election, starting from the figure of Ridwan Kamil, the solidity of the cadre under the leadership of Airlangga Hartarto, and the composition of the popular candidates placed in each region.

“Kang Emil became one of the important actors yes, that earlier there were candidate figures as well, that then the party machine also moved effectively to the grassroots level,” he said.