Markus Junianto Sihaloho – After much wheeling and dealing, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) on Thursday appeared to have finally put an end to the hopes of a Suharto former son-in-law to run for the presidency on the party's ticket.

Lt. Gen. (ret) Prabowo Subianto has been busy selling his hopes to the PDI-P since it became clear that his fledgling Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) would garner less than 5 percent of the national votes in the April 9 legislative elections.

By approaching the PDI-P, which will likely get about 14.5 percent of the votes, the two may stand a chance to nominate a pair of candidates for the presidency and the vice presidency in the July 8 elections. Gerindra has since floated a pair of candidates, with Prabowo running for the presidency in tandem with Puan Maharani, the daughter of PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Sukarnoputri, who has reportedly been grooming her to take her place.

But on Thursday, PDI-P secretary general Pramono Anung put an end to the possibility. "It is now 100 percent certain the presidential candidate from the PDI-P will be Mrs. Megawati Sukarnoputri," he said after a party leadership meeting at Megawati's residence in Menteng, Central Jakarta.

"If there is a rumor saying that the PDI-P has another alternative [presidential candidate], we stress that we will be nominating Ibu Mega as the only candidate," he added.

Many political analysts and observers have said that Megawati, who has already failed to be elected to another term and lost to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in 2004, would stand no chance at challenging him in the upcoming presidential elections. Almost all recent political surveys show that Yudhoyono, whose Democratic Party appears set to reap the highest number of votes in the April elections, is the strongest contender for the presidency.

Last month, Pramono said the party would reveal a name to run as Megawati's vice presidential candidate after the plenary meeting. Party sources close to Megawati at the time said they were sure that Prabowo would accept the vice presidential ticket. But Prabowo has since repeatedly stressed that he was aiming for no less than the presidency.