Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – In a manner some here see as reminiscent of Golkar's elections during the rule of former President Suharto, Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri was unanimously re-elected to lead the country's largest party until the next elections in 2004.

Ironically Ms Megawati – a symbol of democracy to many during Mr Suharto's rule when her party was the only opposition force – has been accused of engineering to have all other candidates for leadership of the Indonesian Democratic Party-Perjuangan (Struggle), or PDI-P, disqualified.

On the last night of the party congress, she proposed to bypass an open election for the position of party chairman and suggested instead that the congress accept herself as the only candidate for the position – thus disqualifying two others challenging her.

She also proposed that the congress give her the right to select new executive council members rather than allow delegates to vote for them. "This congress is like an obituary for democracy. Since PDI-P is the winning party in the last elections, the Indonesian people expect them to be the pioneers of democracy," said Mr Eros Djarot, one of the disqualified candidates. "Instead Semarang has become the place where they kill democracy," he said, referring to the Central Java town where the congress was held.

Reformists in the party were puzzled as to why she went to such extents to muzzle any dissenting opinions, as her position as party leader was not expected to be challenged seriously.

Her decision to maintain tight control over the party's executive council was a worrying trend, as analysts said that the PDI-P needed desperately to become a more modern and democratic party if it was to be an effective ruling party.

"If Megawati can't change the type of party leadership, I see PDI-P trapped in the format of a traditional political party," warned political analyst Tomi Legowo. He said the party needed more reformists in its upper management, but the conservatives who supported the existing party structure far outnumbered the reformers.

Mr Eros was concerned that Ms Megawati's decision to choose personally her executive council showed that she was not willing to allow the council enough autonomy to lead the party, and the executive council the power to make policy decisions independently.

The two rejected candidates, Mr Eros and Mr Dimyati Hartonto, said PDI-P delegates felt pressured into accepting the process because of Ms Megawati's powerful influence over the congress proceedings.

Delegate Nadham Yusuf said many of them left the congress in frustration rather than complain about the non-election for the remaining positions such as secretary-general. "No one's brave to object because he knows it is a legal congress," he said, but he warned that unless the party became more open and democratic, its supporters would look elsewhere.

Internal critics said that the party has not formulated any new policies, and has so far failed to take the initiative on issues such as the conflict in Maluku or Irian, where the party has a strong following. The only statement on the numerous regional problems to emerge was a confirmation that PDI-P would oppose separatist movements such as in Irian and Aceh.