Munafri Arifuddin, who was supported by 10 from 11 political parties in the city's Regional People's Representative Council, was the only candidate in an uncontested election.

Incumbent mayor Mohammad Ramdhan Pomanto initially registered to run for a second term as an independent candidate, but his candidacy was later revoked by a Supreme Court ruling.

Despite running as a single candidate, Arifuddin, who was the CEO of local football club PSM Makassar and nephew of then-Indonesian vice president Jusuf Kalla, lost the vote to an empty ballot (kotak kosong), forcing the election to be repeated in 2020 and for an acting mayor to be appointed by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

[2] Although a lawsuit was brought to the Constitutional Court, the appeal was rejected, making the election the first in Indonesian electoral history in which an empty ballot won.

[18] The South Sulawesi high court on national administration (Pengadilan Tinggi Tata Usaha Negara) on March 21 ordered the KPU to cancel Pomanto's candidacy.

[23] Following the announcement of the results, the Munafri-Dewi campaign team filed a lawsuit to the Constitutional Court, claiming "structured, systematic and massive cheating", accusing Pomanto of having interfered in favor of the "none of the above option" within his capacity as mayor, and demanding that the "none of the above" option/empty column be cancelled.