REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Deputy Chairman of the Indonesian Association of Muslim Intellectuals (ICMI) Priyo Budi Santoso has suggested that Joko Widodo (Jokowi) pick up a non-partisan for his running mate in the 2019's presidential election. He saw some potential names suitable to pair with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) presidential candidate.

"There are other potential names, who are economist and Islamist, deserving to be considered. There are Jimly Asshiddiqie, Din Syamsudin and Mahfud MD, who do not belong to any political parties but have advantage of being Islamist," Priyo said here on Wednesday.

He said it was unfortunate that candidates of good quality are not considered just because they are not members of a political party although they are quite close to the president.

Nevertheless, Priyo said he was not against candidates from the ruling coalition parties, but the parties should propose one with quality. He said the one to be Jokowi's running mate should have the criteria that would contribute to electability although, according to a number of surveys, Jokowi already has a high electability.

Analysts have said Jokowi needs an Islamist running mate to soften growing Islamic opposition, but the president also needs an economist expected to maintain or to increase the country's economic growth.

Priyo predicted there are three scenarios in the 2019 presidential election. Firstly a repetition of the 2014 presidential election with two candidates - Jokowi against Prabowo Subianto; secondly the possibility of a third contestant supported by Democratic party, PKB and PAN, a scenario which would be good for democracy and the third, Jokowi to team up with Prabowo, a scenario that may lead to single candidate contest.

"Increasing electability is important. A strong man with strong position could find problem if he made a mistake in selection for a running mate," Priyo said.

Meanwhile a number of political parties have openly shown ambition to name their candidates for vice president such as PKB, which proposes its general chairman Muhaimin Iskandar, and Hanura proposing its founder retired army General Wiranto.

The Democratic Party of former President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono also has a candidate Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono with an eye on the vice presidency.

There is also a potential woman candidate Sri Mulyani Indrawati, currently in Jokowi's cabinet as finance minister. Sri Mulyani received the World's Best Minister Award at the World Government Summit held in Dubai last month.

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