Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Jakarta – Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie has made the widely expected announcement that he will run for president in 2014 – but only with solid and well-founded popular support.

In response to a reporter's question at a seminar in Jakarta with officials from Singapore's Defense Ministry, Aburizal said he had "not made any firm decisions" but would base his candidacy on opinion polls.

"I'd have to see the results of the surveys first. I'm a pragmatic man," he said. "If they show that I'm less popular than other candidates from Golkar, then the others will get the backing to run, not me. Golkar will only nominate its best members for this country."

His statement comes amid rising tensions between Golkar and the ruling Democratic Party over key issues, such as the candidates for the next police chief and the next attorney general.

On Monday, Aburizal announced that Golkar was calling on the government to raise the budget deficit from 1.7 percent to 2.1 percent of gross domestic product to better fund security services and infrastructure projects.

Analysts say the call puts the government in a compromising position and could potentially chip away at the popularity of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's administration less than a year into its second term.

Golkar and Yudhoyono's Democrats previously clashed over the issue of the Bank Century bailout.

In that case, the president was widely seen as conceding to Aburizal by letting go of his finance minister, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, with whom Aburizal shared a long feud, and by naming the Golkar chief as the head of the ruling coalition's secretariat.