2013 Central Java gubernatorial election

The 2013 Central Java gubernatorial election was held on 26 May 2013 to elect both the governor and vice governor of Central Java. The incumbent, Bibit Waluyo, ran for re-election as a member of the Democratic Party, despite being first elected as a member of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) in 2008. In the election, he faced Ganjar Pranowo of the PDI-P and Hadi Prabowo of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), being defeated by the former.

Candidates
This general election was contested by three candidates. Incumbent, Bibit Waluyo, ran for re-election with Sudijono, the Chancellor of the State University of Semarang. The PDI-P (who had supported Waluyo in the 2008 election), brought Ganjar Pranowo, a member of the People's Representative Council as a candidate, together with Heru Sudjatmoko who was serving as the Regent of Purbalingga. Interestingly, the deputy governor of Central Java, Rustriningsih which had been predicted to be promoted by the PDI-P, was not nominated. According to some the PDI-P considered that Rustri was not polite in politics. Meanwhile Hadi Prabowo, the Regional Secretary of Central Java ran with the Regent of Sumedang, Don Murdono.