It was held to elect the governor of Riau along with their deputy, whilst members of the provincial council (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Daerah) will be re-elected in 2019.

Other candidates are Firdaus, mayor of the province's capital Pekanbaru, DPR member and former cabinet minister Muhammad Lukman Edy, and Siak Regency regent Syamsuar.

[5] Under regulations, candidates are required to secure the support of a political party or a coalition thereof comprising at least 20 percent of the seats in the regional house.

In addition to being member of DPR and holding a deputy chair post at MPR, he was the chairman of PKB's Riau office, and secured the support of his party to run.

[12][13] Incumbent Arsyadjuliandi Rachman (who was made governor following the arrest of his predecessor by the Corruption Eradication Commission in 2014) managed to secure the support of Golkar, PDI-P and Hanura.