Jakarta – The ruling Democratic Party has begun selecting its candidates for the 2014 presidential election, but analysts doubt that the process – inspired by the US presidential primary – would be credible with Pramono Edhie Wibowo, the brother-in-law of party founder and chairman Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, joining the race.

Gadjah Mada University political expert Ari Dwipayana said the selection, also involving top political figures from outside the party, would lead to the naming of the party's favorite candidate.

"There could be a tendency for the party to give a better chance to a particular internal candidate. There is also a possibility that public surveys, which will be held during the convention, could be manipulated to support particular individuals."

He suggested that former Indonesian Army chief Gen. (ret) Pramono Edhie Wibowo would likely win the presidential ticket despite the party's claim that the result of the selection would be based on independent national surveys.

Arman Salam, a political analyst at the Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI), concurred, saying that Pramono was the party's favorite regardless of his low electability. "The fact that the party has reviewed and approached several figures to participate in the convention implies that it has a preference," he added.

Convention committee secretary Suaidi Marasabessy, who is also a member of the party's central executive board, downplayed the criticism, saying that the selection would be fair and credible.

"There is no way that we would do any of these things if we already had a preferred presidential candidate. We will cooperate with three independent survey institutes to conduct surveys involving the public to determine the electability and acceptability of candidates," he said on Wednesday.

Suaidi told The Jakarta Post that there were currently 11 candidates, but he refused to name any of them.

However, several public figures who have expressed an interest in participating in the convention include Pramono, House of Representatives Speaker Marzuki Alie, who is a party member, former Constitutional Court chief justice Mahfud MD, Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan and State-Owned Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan.

Pramono, who joined the party in June after his retirement, is among the candidates listed as favorites for president in several surveys. His electability, however, is relatively lower than some of his counterparts.

A National Survey Institute (LSN) survey in March ranked him fifth with 4.9 percent of a total of 1,230 respondents while his counterpart from the party, Marzuki Alie, ranked fourth with 6.8 percent.

Another survey by LSI in November last year, which had only 233 respondents with doctoral degrees, placed him in 14th position while Mahfud, Dahlan and Gita ranked first, third and ninth, respectively.

Arman said that the party's caucus was a strategy to nominate the most publicly appealing figure as its presidential candidate. He added that the convention was likely aimed at raising the electability, popularity and acceptability of the party.

The convention will have four stages: introduction of candidates to the public in Jakarta, aired interviews with candidates, public debates between candidates in several cities and other activities initiated by candidates. The party will also conduct surveys before and after the public debates and then decide upon its presidential candidate based on the results of the surveys. (koi)