Jakarta – Indonesia's parliament Speaker Agung Laksono has said that the two opposing coalitions in the legislature have agreed to put an end to their current deadlock, with the People's Coalition promising to attend plenary and commission meetings.

Mr Agung said the agreement was reached during an informal meeting between leaders of the House of Representatives and the leaders of the House factions on Friday evening.

"The two groups no longer blame each other and the conflict has eased," he said during a working visit to Bakauheni port in Lampung on Saturday. "All of the House factions have promised to return to commission and plenary meetings," said Mr Agung.

The meeting on Friday evening was attended by M. Hata of the Golkar party, Panda Nababan of the Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle, Erman Suparno of the National Awakening Party, Endin AJ Soefihara of the United Development Party, Abdillah Toha of the National Mandate Party and Irwan Prayitno of the Prosperous Justice Party.

The House was split over the election mechanism for leaders of the commissions and auxiliary bodies.

The Nationhood Coalition, aligned to supporters of former president Megawati Sukarnoputri, and the National Awakening Party had insisted that the chairmanship posts of the commissions and auxiliary bodies be put to a vote, while the pro-government People's Coalition wanted the posts to be distributed proportionally among the House factions.

The People's Coalition – comprising the United Development Party, the National Mandate Party, the Democratic Party and the Prosperous Justice Party as well as several small parties – has boycotted all plenary and commission meetings over the past two weeks, bringing the House to a standstill.

Mr Agung said the faction leaders came to an understanding during the informal meeting. "The understanding will be very instrumental in dealing with existing problems," said Mr Agung of Golkar. In addition to Golkar, the Nationhood Coalition includes the Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle, the Reform Star Party and the Prosperous Peace Party.

However, he declined to reveal how the factions would resolve their deadlock over the commission chairs. The Nationhood Coalition, which is the dominant force in the House, has offered the People's Coalition three chairmanship and 12 deputy chairmanship posts for the House commissions and auxiliary bodies.