Golkar Party chairman and Vice President Jusuf Kalla's attempts to charm former President Megawati Sukarnoputri and her possible running mate, Prabowo Subianto, over the weekend appeared to go nowhere.

While it is too early to know how the coalition merry-go-round will sort itself out, Kalla's bold move on Friday to break away from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party in a bid to pose a challenge to the president seemed to have made little progress in recent days.

Compounding problems for Kalla is that his bitter rival, former Golkar chairman Akbar Tanjung, continued on Saturday and Sunday to meet with disaffected members of the party's district-level boards, raising the possibility that Kalla's leadership of the party could be challenged ahead of the July presidential election.

Golkar is now racing against time to form a coalition to allow Kalla to contest the presidential election. The General Elections Commission, or KPU, is to open the formal registration for candidates on May 10.

Analysts believe that the Democratic Party, which easily won the recent legislative elections, according to preliminary counts, and Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, or PDI-P, are near to announcing their coalition partners.

PDI-P and Golkar have been running neck and neck for the No. 2 and No. 3 spots in the legislative vote count. But most major players are still talking, however, making it difficult to predict how the final pairings will shake out.

Reports over the weekend that Megawati may join forces with Suharto-era Gen. Prabowo and his Great Indonesia Movement Party, or Gerindra, did not deter Kalla and Prabowo from meeting on Sunday.

"This is an initial talk. It will surely be followed up with another talk about a relationship that benefits both Golkar and Gerindra," Kalla said after the meeting. Prabowo concurred, saying that the two agreed to "intensify our talks."

Prabowo, whose party is currently in eighth place with 4.3 percent of the popular vote from the legislative elections, is believed to be favored by Megawati due to his healthy bank balance and vast network of contacts. It remains unclear, however, if he would accept a nomination to runs as Megawati's vice president or will run himself.

Golkar and PDI-P are scheduled to hold another meeting today to discuss forming a coalition ahead of the presidential poll.

Golkar executive Priyo Budi Santoso said on Sunday that the party was expecting to get 109 of the 560 seats in the House of Representatives, which is roughly 19 percent. That means the party could form a coalition with smaller parties to reach the required threshold of 20 percent of House seats to nominate a presidential candidate.

It's a high-wire political act for Kalla, who may be fighting for his survival within Golkar, which remains divided between those who support his presidential bid and those who are opposed to it.

An extraordinary national meeting of the party to address the split between pro- and anti-Kalla forces could be held if it is requested by two-thirds of the 33 provincial Golkar branches.