Golkar candidates chosen

BANDA ACEH, Aceh: The Golkar Party has chosen Malik Raden and Sayed Fuad Zakaria as party's candidates in the gubernatorial election here in April next year.

The two were chosen after they won most votes in the party election recently against another pair of candidates Ridwan Yahya and Sanusi Ali.

Malik is a leading educationist and a member of the Regional Representative Council (DPD) representing Aceh province, while Sayed is the chairman of Aceh's Golkar chapter and the speaker of the Aceh Provincial Legislative Council.

The election on Wednesday was attended by 180 Golkar leaders across Aceh province.

Salaiman Abda, a leading Golkar figure in Aceh, said on Saturday that Malik and Sayed were the best choice. Salaiman described them as honest, clean and popular among the Acehnese people.

Besides Golkar Party, other parties in the province have also picked their candidates such as Reform Star Party which had chosen pair Maj. Gen. Tamlica Ali and Mukhlis Muchtar as candidates for Aceh governor and deputy governor. The National Mandate Party (PAN) has chosen Azwar Abubakar, the current acting Aceh governor, as the party's candidate, but it has yet to pick his running mate. -- Antara