Two candidates ran in this election. • Incumbent mayor,
Tri Rismaharini, running with the incumbent deputy mayor and former deputy speaker of the Surabaya City Council,
Wisnu Sakti Buana. The ticket was supported by the
Indonesian Democratic Party – Struggle (PDI–P). • Former Provincial Secretary of East Java under
Governor Soekarwo,
Rasiyo, running with former member of the
House of Representatives,
Lucy Kurniasari. The ticket was supported by the
Democratic Party (PD) and the
National Mandate Party (PAN).
Nominations The election was close to being postponed until 2017 as less than two candidates was registered by the end of the nominations period. At that point, there was no rules or precedence concerning
walkover elections (the
Constitutional Court ruled the legality of WO elections only on the end of September). Risma-Wisnu was the only pair who managed to submit nomination papers on time. Before Rasiyo-Lucy was registered, two attempts were made to register a challenger to Risma. In early August 2015, the
PD and
PAN attempted to nominate former journalist, Dhimam Abror Djuraid, paired with Haries Purwoko. The registration failed after Haries withdrew in the last minute. As no other attempts were made until the end of the nomination period, the local electoral committee (KPUD) extended the nomination period until early September. Several weeks after the failed first attempt, Dhimas was nominated again, this time with Rasiyo as his running mate. The KPUD rejected their nomination due to errors in their nomination papers. The PD and PAN finally managed to register a ticket in their third attempt. On 8 September, Rasiyo, paired with Lucy Kurniasari, were registered in the KPUD, ending the saga and allowing the election to proceed as scheduled. == Campaign ==