Carlos Paath – Senior officials from country's main opposition party have suggested that former president and two-time losing presidential candidate Megawati Soekarnoputri may have another run at office next year, ahead of Joko Widodo, the poll-topping governor of Jakarta.

Olly Dondokambey, the treasurer of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said on Monday that Megawati, the party chairwoman, was best qualified to be its presidential candidate in 2014, with Joko as her running mate.

"She's the chairwoman and she's had experience as the president before," he said at the House of Representatives. "With the situation that the country is in today, we need a leader with experience."

Olly said there had been calls lately for Joko, who leads most opinion polls of potential presidential candidates, to take the party's vice presidential nomination rather than the top spot, as most analysts and observers outside the party have suggested.

He added that Megawati's relatively low poll numbers should not be a major consideration, and cited Joko's own poor showing in surveys before last year's gubernatorial election in Jakarta, which he went on to win by a convincing margin.

"Sure, the numbers are low. But if we were to go by just the surveys, then Joko would never have become the governor. The surveys are just part of the process," Olly said.

"Personally, I'd like to see a Mega-Joko ticket," he added, emphasizing that no decision had been made and that the final call would be Megawati's to make.

Eriko Sotarduga, a PDI-P deputy secretary general, said separately on Monday that a Megawati-Joko ticket for the presidential election in July "makes perfect sense," but that the party was now focusing on the legislative election next April.

"We haven't actually spoken about who will be our presidential or vice presidential candidate, whether at official or unofficial discussions within the party," he said. "But if people inside and outside the party want to see Megawati and Joko running together, that makes perfect sense."

Tubagus Hasanuddin, a veteran PDI-P legislator and head of the party's West Java chapter, said there were actually three possibilities being considered for the presidential ticket, with Joko featuring in each one of them. "The first one is Megawati as the candidate and Joko as her running mate," he said at the House.

"The second is Joko as the candidate and another PDI-P member as his running mate. The third possibility is if we form a coalition with another party, with Joko to be the presidential candidate. "There's a groundswell of support for Joko to run for president, but Megawati hasn't decided yet."

Hasto Kristiyanto, a PDI-P deputy secretary general, concurred separately that Joko was an integral part of the party's plans for the election, but stressed that Megawati was just as important. He said that as a seasoned politician, the PDI-P chairwoman could help the relatively inexperienced Joko deal with "the political attacks that have already begun."

Neither Joko nor Megawati have publicly stated their intention to run, with the Jakarta governor repeatedly deferring the decision to the former president. Analysts say that while he may harbor presidential intentions, Joko must be seen as being gifted the nomination rather than taking it, because he otherwise risks making Megawati lose face.