Jakarta – An estimated 200,000 people packed a Jakarta sports stadium Sunday in a mass show of support for Golkar, the party which kept president Suharto in power for 32 years, witnesses said.

The gathering turned the downtown Senayan stadium into a sea of yellow, Golkar's trademark color. It came less than 100 days before the June 7 elections in which it will be fighting to maintain its parliamentary majority.

The party rally was held to announce Golkar's official change of status from a "functional group" to a party to conform with new political rules introduced by Suharto's hand-picked successor, B.J. Habibie.

In the June 7 polls Golkar, which has said it may propose Habibie as its presidential candidate, will for the first time face up to 48 rival parties instead of the two allowed in the Suharto era.

The party also faces the prospect of losing thousands of previously assured votes from the military, which has pledged its neutrality in the polls. Civil servants and their families had also been obliged to vote for it in the past.

Golkar chairman Akbar Tanjung was quoted by the state Antara news agency Sunday as saying the new Golkar might consider a coalition with other parties to remain in power.

"Coalition between a party with other parties is okay, as long as it is aimed at our nation's interest," Tanjung, who is also Indonesia's State Secretary, was quoted as saying.

But he said any such coalition would only be formed after the polls, not before.

[Following the rally, Golkar chairperson Akbar Tanjung told the Associated Press that he expected Golkar to gain 40% of the vote – enough he claimed to remain the largest party in parliament - James Balowski.]