Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta – Negotiations began in earnest yesterday after the spectacular split in Indonesia's ruling coalition, as Vice-President Jusuf Kalla held closed-door meetings with potential partners.
A day after a leaders' convention of Mr Kalla's Golkar party charged him with taking it to victory at presidential elections in July, he met former president Megawati Sukarnoputri and retired military figure Wiranto. Ms Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle is expected to announce its preferred presidential candidate today.
However, nothing is set in stone, with the nominating deadline still three weeks away and Golkar having ordered Mr Kalla to "report back" on his coalition-building endeavours before then.
Activity at the presidential palace, where Democrat Party chairman Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was considering strategy, was also intense in the hours after Thursday's Golkar decision.
A delegation of senior Golkar figures visited Mr Yudhoyono to see whether he would still accept a nominee from their party to stand as his vice-presidential running mate despite the split.
Mr Yudhoyono was noncommittal, telling the delegation, according to an official who was at the meeting: "You must understand there will be political complications... if I choose a vice-presidential candidate from the Golkar community. But I will consider your request."
Showing the deep divisions that have finally spilled over in the one-time ruling party of the late dictator Suharto, senior member Akbar Tandjung immediately denounced the Kalla move.
Mr Tandjung, a former speaker in the house who in 2004 had a three-year jail sentence for corruption overturned on appeal, has been tipped as a dark-horse alternative to Mr Kalla as a Yudhoyono running-mate.
Quizzed about that yesterday, Mr Tandjung said it was "my hope... (and) for sure, Golkar will return (to the Democrats)".
Pointing out that Golkar still needed up to an extra 11 per cent of the vote to achieve the 25 per cent threshold required to stand a presidential team on its own, Mr Tandjung said this would be "extremely difficult, even impossible" unless it allied with Mr Yudhoyono.
Vote-counting after the April 9 elections is proceeding at a snail's pace, but the Democrats have about 20 per cent, and Golkar and Ms Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDI-P) each have about 15 per cent.
A slew of second-rung parties are already in intense negotiations with the PDI-P or the Democrats. These include the Greater Indonesia Movement of retired general Prabowo and Subianto and the People's Conscience Party of general Wiranto, both already in close talks with Ms Megawati.
Others, thought more likely to fall in with the Democrats, include the Muslim-leaning Prosperous Justice Party and United Development Party, as well as the National Awakening Party created by one-time president Abdurrahman Wahid.
Such a coalition would still not give Mr Yudhoyono a majority in the house, creating concern at his ability to convince it to pass any controversial legislation during a second five-year term.
Anxiety had already emerged yesterday over the prospect of the Government achieving anything further in the remainder of its term, with important bills still under consideration.
The house had passed only 157 of a targeted 284 bills, according to parliamentarian Bomer Pasaribu. Most important among those yet to be passed include a bill to deal with the economic crisis.