Irawaty Wardany, Sanur, Bali – The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) announced it will target 20 percent of votes in the 2009 legislative election, and welcomes non-Muslim constituents, the party leader said here on Friday.

"We are quite optimistic after the results of the 146 regional direct elections in 2007, of which we won 86 independently and through coalitions," Party chairman Tifatul Sembiring told reporters Friday on the sidelines of the party's national meeting.

The meeting was attended by some 1,500 participants including party members and national figures, like People's Consultative Assembly chairman Hidayat Nurwahid who previously chaired PKS.

The party had significantly increased its supporters at regional elections including those in Jakarta, Bekasi and Banten, Tifatul said.

In the first ever Jakarta gubernatorial election PKS gained some 42.5 percent of the vote, he said. "We fought alone against a coalition of 21 parties (in the election)."

PKS-sponsored Adang Daradjatun and Dani Anwar lost to eventual winner Fauzi Bowo, previously deputy governor under outgoing Sutiyoso, and Prijanto.

Tifatul said his party, long recognized as a conventional Islamic party, would welcome support from all sides, regardless of backgrounds, including non-Muslims. "There are no laws or regulations forbidding political parties from seeking support from specific races or religious groups," he said.

Titaful said, in order to reach its target, PKS should change its image from being an elite party to a mass-based party, by familiarizing more people with the party, "especially those who the party has not reached previously like farmers and fishermen."

"We realize that PKS used to speak in 'high language', which many voters did not understand," he said. He said PKS needed to develop a closer relationship with the 'common people', because 60 percent of Indonesian voters had low education levels. "Many of them are only junior high-school graduates," Tifatul said.

Asked whether PKS would form a coalition with another party, Tifatul said his party would be open to any opportunities. "It all depends on the results of the legislative elections," he said.

For the legislative election candidates, Titaful said, PKS had set three requirements; Clean, caring and professional. "Clean means a candidate's track record must be free from any type of violations, particularly those relating to corruption, collusion and nepotism," he said.

Caring and professional, he said, meant candidates needed to have a high social values, and core competence to be able to deal with all kinds of problems.