The 2020 West Sumatra gubernatorial election was held on 9 December 2020 in West Sumatra, Indonesia, as part of the simultaneous local elections.

[3] There are 9 political parties that gained seats at the West Sumatra Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) in the 2019 legislative election.

On 2 September 2020, while submitting a letter of recommendation to the candidate pair of Mulyadi–Ali Mukhni from her party, in support of them, the Chairwoman of the Central Board of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), Puan Maharani, made a remark that offended West Sumatra public at large, as she hopes that West Sumatra "could become a province that does support a Pancasila state".

Because of such controversial statements that deemed offending many West Sumatrans, Mulyadi–Ali Mukhni eventually returned the letter of recommendation from the party,[5] leaving the PDIP not participating in this election.

[6] On 5 December 2020, Mulyadi was named suspect by the Criminal Investigation Agency for allegedly violating campaigning rules.