Jakarta, NU Online
Noted scholar Azyumardi Azra predicts that most of the Muslim votes will go to presidential candidate Jusuf Kalla and his running mate Wiranto in the July election, in accordance with their leaders’ direction.

Azyumardi of Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic Institute said Saturday leaders of the country’s two mainstream Islamic groups Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah had implied their option for Kalla and Wiranto, thanks to incumbent Vice President Kalla’s close ties with the two biggest Muslim organizations, which claim to have 70 million followers between them.

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“Unlike in the 2004 presidential election, Muslim voters will be pooled to Kalla as he is deemed as the only representation of Islam,” Azyumardi, who is a senior official at the vice presidential office, told Antara news agency.  

Kalla is affiliated with NU, while his mother and wife respectively hail from a Muhammadiyah family.

Azyumardi said the decision by the wives of Kalla and Wiranto to put on the veil would help their husbands win a lot of votes. “Muhammadiyah and NU followers in the grassroots will regard them as devout Muslims,” he said. (dar)