Golkar delays candidate selection

Tiarma Siboro , The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Golkar has decided to delay selecting a presidential candidate until after the legislative election in April 2004 instead of its targeted date of February 2004.

Party chairman Akbar Tandjung told a press conference here on Sunday evening that the move was aimed at allowing the party to concentrate on preparations for next year's legislative election scheduled for April 5.

With the delay, the seven presidential aspirants who received the support of at least five provinces in the first round of the convention will continue to be legitimate Golkar candidates until after the party chooses one definitive candidate in April or May 2004.

He said the delay would also help strengthen the party's internal consolidation.

The delay, however, did not come as a surprise as many observers had speculated that selecting a presidential candidate in February 2004 would severely affect the party's performance in the legislative elections as the unsuccessful candidates would likely leave the party and run as candidates for other parties.

Some had also suggested that the delay was a ploy from Akbar to secure his candidacy as it would give him more time to wait for the Supreme Court's decision on his appeal against his conviction for corruption.

Akbar, who is also the speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR), was sentenced to three years in jail for his role in a financial scandal involving Rp 40 billion.

So far, Wiranto has garnered the greatest support from all of Golkar regency/municipality chapters across the country for his presidential candidacy, followed by Akbar in second place.

Indonesia will also hold its first ever presidential election in two stages on July 5 and Sept. 20 respectively.

Akbar also announced on Sunday that seven contestants running for the presidential nomination during the party's convention would also qualify to participate in the party's pre-convention meeting, which will take place on Monday and Tuesday.

Those seven contestants were Aburizal Bakrie, with support from 28 provinces, Surya Paloh (27 provinces), Gen. (ret) Wiranto (25 provinces), Akbar Tandjung (23 provinces), Yusuf Kalla (20 provinces), Lt. Gen. (ret) Prabowo Subianto (14 provinces) and Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X (seven provinces).

The decision was taken by the Golkar convention executive board, and was signed by its chairman Oetojo Oesman and secretary Andi Mattalatta.

With this decision, Golkar has revised its earlier decision which stipulates that only five contestants will be picked for the pre-convention meeting.

Besides these two important decisions, Golkar has also issued several other rulings including, setting target for its share of the vote in next year's elections and the recall of party legislators.

Regarding the party's vote expectations, Akbar said Golkar expected to get 31 percent of the total 550 seats on offer, meaning 170 seats in the House of Representatives.

It also hoped to gain 33 percent of the vote from the 143- million-strong electorate across the country, he said.

"Based on our party's observations on the ground, we are optimistic we will meet our target," he said.