Febriamy Hutapea – The Golkar Party admitted on Wednesday that it would have to work a lot harder for a strong showing in the April 9 national legislative elections.

Based on three surveys commissioned by Golkar, party members feared that they were losing popularity in five key provinces.

The surveys – conducted by Indo Barometer, the Indonesian Survey Institute and Poll Center – showed that Golkar had failed to make much-needed headway in Jakarta, East Java, Central Java, Central Kalimantan and Bali provinces.

The exact results of the surveys were not disclosed to journalists, however, and other, independent surveys have shown Golkar trailing nationally to the Democratic Party and former President Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, or PDI-P.

Despite the fact that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of the Democratic Party currently heads the government, Golkar deputy chairman Agung Laksono said the party would work harder to try to capitalize on the government's successes.

"Golkar Party should be reaping the results of the government's successful programs," he said after holding a meeting of Golkar leaders at the party's West Jakarta offices. "The government is a team comprising two parties."

Vice President Jusuf Kalla is Golkar's chairman, and the party's new TV ad campaign has tried to portray government successes as due to his position and Golkar's plurality of the legislature.

With only seven weeks remaining before the election, Agung said that Golkar remained strong in several regions, including on densely-populated Java Island.

Golkar secretary general Rully Chaerul Azwar said swing voters in Jakarta who had supported the party in 2004 no longer did, reflected in the party's decline in the capital. "In DKI Jakarta, voters are very critical," he said. "And there are many new voters who will make last-minute decisions."

However, Rully said he was optimistic that the intensive advertising campaign would boost the party's popularity by 5 percent nationally. Golkar is the largest party in the House of Representatives after winning 24 percent of the 2004 vote and securing 128 of the 550 seats.