Jakarta – A move to keep the duo of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Jusuf Kalla has gained further ground as Golkar Party leaders agreed Friday to let its provincial chapter heads select the running mate for Yudhoyono in the July election.
Golkar secretary-general Soemarsono said the party's plenary meeting Friday confirmed its coalition with Yudhoyono's Democratic Party.
"Provincial chapters will decide names of Golkar's vice presidential candidates during the party's special executive meeting on April 23," Soemarsono said after the meeting.
"They could propose a single candidate or more than two names to be offered to the coalition." Soemarsono said heads of the party's branches at regency level would be excluded from the process.
Last month Golkar chair Kalla declared his candidacy for the presidency with support from heads of the party's 33 provincial chapters.
He repeatedly reiterated his bid for the presidency during the open campaign ahead of the April 9 polls. In his campaign, Kalla boasted he was a "better and faster" leader.
Kalla admitted he made up his mind for the presidency following an insulting statement from an executive of the Democratic Party who predicted Golkar would only secure about 2.5 percent of the vote in the legislative elections.
Soemarsono said that a significant drop in support in last week's polls had caused the party to reconsider its quest for the presidency. "We must be realistic with the candidacy as we failed to meet our target of winning 20 percent of the votes in the legislative polls," he said.
Earlier in the day, Golkar executive Syamsul Muarif said the party might not disclose any vice presidential candidates, but would ask Kalla to lead a special team to negotiate with Yudhoyono. Previous surveys found that the ticket of Yudhoyono and Kalla would seal the race in just one round.
On Thursday Golkar's West Java chairman Uu Rukmana said the party's provincial heads would offer Kalla, media magnate Surya Paloh, advisory member Aburizal Bakrie, former chairman Akbar Tandjung, House Speaker Agung Laksono and Yogyakarta Governor Sultan Hamengkubuwono X to Yudhoyono as choices for running mate.
Senior executive of the Democratic Party Taufiq Effendi admitted that the party was still waiting for confirmation from Golkar on the candidacy of Kalla as the running mate for Yudhoyono.
"Is Golkar going for Kalla or not? We still want to form a coalition with Golkar as it will build a strong government and we will take into account their vice presidential candidate," he said.
Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) deputy secretary general Fahri Hamzah said the Muslim-based party would quit the coalition with the Democratic Party if Yudhoyono took Kalla as his running mate.
"We might become an opposition or take an independent stance," Fahri said Friday. He said that the duo of Yudhoyono-Kalla was ineffective because of constant rifts between them.
PKS co-founder Hidayat Nur Wahid, asserted the party's bid to nominate a vice presidential candidate in the coalition with the Democratic Party would remain on the table. He said the PKS was the only party, aside from the Democratic Party, that had managed to increase its votes in last week's polls.