Febriamy Hutapea, Pekanbaru (Riau) – The Golkar Party's national congress descended into chaos and required a police cool-down on Tuesday morning as members took part in a heated debate over who had the right to vote to select the party's new chairman. The new leader of the party will be decided on Wednesday.

Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie and media mogul Surya Paloh have been considered as the frontrunners for the position, with Yuddy Chrisnandi and Hutomo Mandala Putra, familiarly known as Tommy Suharto, also vying for the post.

Congress members were tense while debating the internal party policy dictating who had the right to vote in Wednesday's poll. A group of Paloh supporters wanted Golkar's 10 wing organizations to be counted as a single vote, while Bakrie's camp demanded that wing organizations receive a vote each.

The heated debate sparked noisy confrontations and some feared fights would erupt between members.

A team from the Riau Police, who were guarding the perimeter of the Labersa Hotel where the congress was taking place, rushed to the meeting room to control the situation and journalists were forced to leave.

After further debate, a decision to give one vote to each of the wing organizations was reached.