Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Ferry Irwanto – The Golkar Party, which has suffered two consecutive electoral defeats this year, is facing a worsening internal rift as calls increase to move up the date of the party congress to replace chairman Jusuf Kalla.

Kalla, who has chaired the party since 2004 and ran in Wednesday's presidential polls, is under pressure to resign following the party's defeat in April's legislative elections and his failure to win the presidency.

Quick counts and exit polls have consistently shown that Kalla, who ran with Gen. (ret.) Wiranto, finished last in the presidential race, well behind the winner, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and former President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Bambang Soesatyo, a spokesman for Kalla's campaign team, on Friday accused several senior Golkar executives of being behind the drive to hold the party congress ahead of schedule.

He identified them as Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie, House of Representatives Speaker Agung Laksono, Surya Paloh, the chairman of the Golkar Advisory Council, and former Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung.

"Pressure on the party to hold the five-yearly national convention earlier than scheduled is coming from those senior members," Bambang said. The Golkar national convention is scheduled for December.

Another senior Golkar member, Marzuki Darusman, earlier said that Golkar now found itself at lowest point in its history, and urged Kalla to resign before the party's national convention.

Bambang said "it is too early" to make such statements. "Kalla has said that he will resign from his position as chairman, but he would do that at the national convention in December, not in July or August. Golkar's executive board agreed to have the five-yearly Golkar convention as scheduled in December, not at any other time, and let's follow the mechanism."

Separately, Indra J. Piliang, another Kalla supporter, pointed out that from the beginning, Kalla had said that he intended to step down as Golkar chairman, regardless of the outcome of the presidential election. "He already said he did not want to stay there any longer, so he does not need to be pushed to step down," Indra said.

Bambang said Golkar's failure in the elections was a collective one and could not be laid solely at the feet of the chairman. He said that Kalla had entered the presidential race because of a "political accident."

"Everybody knew we were not ready for a presidential candidacy," Bambang said. "We were only ready for a vice presidential candidacy. So this is our struggle." "The fact that we lost the election must be accepted with an open heart," he added.

He acknowledged that some Golkar executives had distanced themselves from Kalla before the presidential election.

"It's all about personal habit and personal ambition," he said. "Some of them needed to save their position in the government's cabinet, others wanted to be chosen for positions in the next cabinet."

Asked about where the party would go from here, Bambang said, "Golkar will put itself in the pro-people position. If the government follows policies that are not pro-poor, we will criticize it and will become the opposition; if the government adopts pro-poor policies, then we will support it. As simple as that."

Meanwhile, another Golkar senior member, Fahmi Idris, said that some party leaders were already planning for an early national convention while Kalla was still campaigning for the presidential election.

"I heard that there are many candidates [planning to replace Kalla], including Aburizal Bakrie and Surya Paloh," Fahmi said. "It explains why it was difficult for us to win the presidential election."

Maswadi Rauf, a political analyst, said on Thursday that Golkar would only create a new conflict within the party if it moves too quickly to find a replacement for Kalla.