September 5, 2023
JAKARTA – National Awakening Party (PKB) leader Muhaimin Iskandar’s decision to run for vice president alongside former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan in the 2024 presidential election has exposed longstanding frictions within Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), whose members are seen as a key voting bloc in next year’s contest.
In an effort to make the Anies-Muhaimin pairing more appealing to NU voters, the PKB said last week that leaders of NU – the country’s largest Islamic organization – had given their blessing to the Anies-Muhaimin pairing.
“We have met with a number of clerics and ulema from NU. They have given their approval [for the Anies-Muhaimin pairing],” PKB secretary general Hasanuddin Wahid said on Friday.