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[who?] 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.[1][2]