2018 Central Java gubernatorial election

The 2018 Central Java gubernatorial election was held on 27 June 2018 to elect both the governor and vice governor of Central Java. The election, which took place alongside local elections across Indonesia, saw the re-election of the incumbent, Ganjar Pranowo, over former Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Sudirman Said.

Timeline

On September 10, the General Elections Commission declared a voter count of 27,409,316 in the province. Voting will be done in 64,171 polling stations across the province.
Registration for party-backed candidates were opened between 8 and 10 January 2018, while independent candidates were required to register between 22 and 26 November 2017. The campaigning period would commence between 15 February and 24 June, with a three-day election silence before voting on 27 June.

Candidates

Under regulations, candidates are required to secure the support of a political party or a coalition thereof comprising at least 20 seats in the regional house. Alternatively, independent candidates may run provided they are capable of securing support from 6.5 percent of the total voter population in form of photocopied ID cards subject to verification by the local committee although no candidates expressing interest managed to do this.

#	Candidate	Most recent position	Running mate	Parties
1	Ganjar Pranowo	Governor of Central Java	Taj Yasin Maimoen	PDI-P Golkar Party Demokrat PPP Nasdem Total 58 seats
2	Sudirman Said	Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources	Ida Fauziyah	PKB Gerindra PKS PAN Total 42 seats

Incumbent Ganjar Pranowo, who had run with PDI-P in the 2013 elections, once again did so and the party declared him as the candidate on 7 January 2018. His deputy and old running mate Heru Sudjatmoko also expressed an intention to run and the pair collected KPU's registration form together. However, on the candidate declaration Megawati Soekarnoputri declared Taj Yasin Maimoen from PPP, son of senior politician and ulema Maimun Zubair. According to 67-year old Heru, he had accepted the party's decision and plans to retire soon. PPP, which had earlier submitted possible running mates for Ganjar, officially backed the pair on 9 January. Nasdem and Demokrat submitted their support on the same day, while Golkar did so on 10 January.
The coalition of Gerindra, PKS and PAN declared Sudirman Said, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources between 2014-2016, as their gubernatorial candidate on 27 December 2017. A non-official faction of PPP, headed by Djan Faridz, also expressed its support for Said. PKB, which initially supported Ganjar, threw its weight behind Said and placed their cadre Ida Fauziyah as his running mate. Ida is a member of the People's Representative Council, where she serves as speaker of her party's faction.

Opinion polls

After formal nominations

Pollster	Date	Sample size	Ganjar Pranowo	Sudirman Said
	7-13 June 2018	800	67.3	21.1
	23-29 May 2018	1,200	70.5	13.6
	10-15 May 2018	800	76.6	15.0
	4-10 May 2018	1,200	44.2	46.1
	3-10 April 2018	600	50.3	10.5
	12-21 March 2018	820	72.4	21.0
	19 February-4 March 2018	800	79.0	11.8

Before nominations

Pollster	Date	Sample size	Results
	7-14 November 2017	440	Ganjar , Ki Enthus Susmono, Musthofa, Budi Waseso
	13-23 September 2017	1,420	Ganjar , FJ, Musthofa, Hendrar Prihadi
	2-9 August 2017	1,668	Ganjar , Ferry Juliantono, Musthofa, Marwan Jafar, Yoyok, Sudirman Said
	15-23 May 2017	800	Ganjar Pranowo , Yoyok Riyo Sudibyo, Yusuf Khudori

Results

Quick count

Pollster	Ganjar-Maimoen	Sudirman-Ida
	56.74	43.26
	58.34	41.66
	58.58	41.42