Salim Osman, Nusa Dua (Bali) – A night of high drama capped a week of lobbying and manoeuvring for the coveted post of chairing Indonesia's largest political party.

Defeated Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung slumped in his seat as the result of the voting for the party's top post showed him trailing far behind challenger Jusuf Kalla at the convention hall of The Westin hotel in the early hours of yesterday morning. Yet later, he walked up to congratulate the jubilant Indonesian Vice-President.

Tension had been building since Wednesday, when Mr Jusuf announced he would contest the election and that he had the backing of 28 of Golkar's 33 chapters, whose leaders held talks with him at the Intercontinental Hotel here.

Mr Akbar discovered to his dismay that the Vice-President also had the backing of his former ally, parliament Speaker Agung Laksono and media magnate Surya Paloh.

He went into a huddle with his aides to come up with a counter strategy. Within a few hours, Mr Akbar's camp moved to grant voting rights to all Golkar branches on the first day of the congress, thereby increasing the number of those eligible to vote from 36 to 484. Hitherto, party standing orders conferred voting rights only on branches in the provinces.

Before widening the constituency, however, Mr Akbar had discussions with former general Wiranto – who was also planning to contest the election – and won him over. Sources said the agreement was vital because Mr Wiranto had strong support from Golkar chapters in the regencies and municipalities – support that had pushed him to be Golkar's presidential candidate at the expense of Mr Akbar at the April national convention.

As a trade-off, he was promised a position as head of the advisory council if Mr Akbar was re-elected and backing if Mr Wiranto decided to contest the presidential elections in 2009, sources said.

Mr Akbar moved swiftly on other fronts. His camp introduced yet another change in the party's Constitution to block Mr Jusuf's candidacy – a stipulation that an aspirant for the chairmanship must not have had links with another party besides having served the party as an executive for at least five years and a Golkar member for at least a decade. The move was clearly directed at Mr Jusuf, who had stood as the vice-presidential candidate on the Democrat Party ticket of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Both camps worked feverishly over two days holding small-group meetings with delegates and making promises. Sources also said money changed hands during negotiations, with the going price said to be 500 million rupiah (S$88,600) for a branch to support a given candidate.

Mr Akbar's camp appeared to be the stronger on the first day of the congress as the incumbent chairman received a standing ovation from delegates for his accountability speech – a strong signal of his support among party rank-and-file.

But things started changing by Friday as the fight turned into a two-man race and Mr Jusuf won the backing of the business community and even the respected Sultan Hamengkubuwono of Jogjakarta. In between, a key figure in Golkar, former Kostrad chief and son-in-law of ex-president Suharto, Mr Prabowo Subianto, decided to switch sides. Sources said the former general joined Mr Jusuf because he could not get along with his former boss, Mr Wiranto.

While lobbying for support continued on Saturday, another drama occurred at a steering committee meeting to scrutinise the candidacies of the four aspirants. They included two contenders in the recent presidential election – Marwah Daud Ibrahim and Slamet Effendy Yusuf.

A decision could not be reached, even though the meeting continued for the whole day on Saturday, pushing the scheduled election to the evening. Delegates were left fuming for hours, then the committee reported at 10pm on Saturday that it could not reach a consensus on whether to endorse all four candidates. The crux of the problem was Mr Jusuf's candidacy.

Sources said the committee had to wait for a party official from South Sulawesi to fly to Bali to produce evidence that the Vice-President had served as a Golkar executive there for five years. Others said that the committee, who included several pro-Akbar officials, was dragging its feet and simply reluctant to endorse Mr Jusuf's application.

There was a shouting match at the hall between delegates who supported Mr Jusuf and other officials. Mr Akbar, who went on stage to calm the delegates, found himself being jeered and booed, his calls for calm drowned by chanting from the floor. It was a highly charged atmosphere.

After an hour's adjournment, the committee decided to endorse all four candidates. Mr Slamet eventually withdrew from the race. By then, it was 2am. Results of the first round of voting showed Mr Jusuf had won 269 votes against Mr Akbar's 191. During the second round, the Vice-President scored 323 votes compared to the incumbent's 156.

What caused the turn of the tide? Golkar delegate N. Budiartha from Bali told The Straits Times: "The party rank-and-file wanted a leader who could bring the party to greater heights. The aspirations of members were the deciding factor. Both candidates were good, but I suppose they wanted the best of the two."

Others said that although Mr Akbar had done a lot for the party in the past five years, he had made some tactical mistakes. Mr Akbar may be credited with the party's performance for coming in second in the 1999 legislative elections and as the winner of the April elections. But the ground had shifted against him.

He suffered setbacks this year, such as losing out in the Golkar presidential nomination, failing to get the party's candidate, Mr Wiranto, past the first round in the election and having little effect on shoring up support for Mrs Megawati Sukarnoputri when he backed her. In the end, many Golkar members saw in Mr Jusuf an opportunity for the party to be closer to the Yudhoyono administration.