Golkar leaders agree to allow regions to decide won candidates
Golkar leaders agree to allow regions to decide won candidates
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Golkar Party leaders acknowledged on Friday the ongoing series of
conventions to select its presidential candidate had failed to
convey the aspirations of grassroot supporters.
They, however, had reached a consensus to make amends for the
failure by allowing regental branches to vote for their own
preferences during the national convention, slated for between
February and April next year.
"We have agreed to allow the regional chapters to choose their
preferences in the convention," Golkar deputy chairman Fahmi said
ahead of the party leadership meeting.
The meeting will be followed by a preconvention on Monday and
Tuesday, when Golkar leaders in the central board and chapters
will select five candidates to contest in the national
convention.
Fahmi said the consensus was reached among members of the
convention committee during a meeting on Thursday.
According to him, several party leaders proposed to repeat the
selection process in Central Java because it did not reflect the
aspirations of party cadres in the grass roots.
The Central Java provincial chapter excluded Akbar from the
list of its presidential candidates, despite the fact that 30 out
of 35 branches in regencies and municipalities voted for the
Golkar chairman.
The provincial chapter, instead, nominated former chief of the
Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) Lt. Gen. (ret) Prabowo
Subianto, businessman Aburizal Bakrie, media mogul Surya Paloh,
former military chief Gen. (ret) Wiranto and Coordinating
Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla.
Fahmi said that for the sake of consistency, a number of
Golkar leaders had asked provincial chapters to heed the
aspirations of branches.
However, after realizing that businessman Aburizal Bakrie and
media baron Surya Paloh would gain overwhelming support from
provincial chapters if consistency was mandatory, the Golkar
leaders changed their minds.
"They knew that if we insisted on consistency, either Aburizal
Bakrie or Surya Paloh would win the convention," Fahmi said.
The latest result of the series of provincial convention shows
that Aburizal and Surya have support in 28 and 27 provinces
respectively. Wiranto and Akbar ranked third and fourth with
support from 25 and 23 provinces each. Kalla and Yogyakarta
Governor Hamengkubuwono X also qualified for next week's
preconvention.
In the preconvention on Monday and Tuesday, the seven
candidates will be vying for 534 votes -- 18 votes from Golkar's
executive board, 10 votes from Golkar-affiliated organizations,
90 votes from 30 provincial chapters with each chapter allocated
three votes and 416 votes from regental branches.
Meanwhile, convention deputy secretary Rully Chairul Azwar
said there were some changes in the agenda of the preconvention
proposed by regional chapters and the party executive board.
Some of them said the preconvention would not necessarily
short-list the seven candidates into five. There were also
demands from party leaders to allow all seven candidates to
compete in the national convention next year.
Convention chairman Slamet Effendi Yusuf said the suggestions
would be discussed in the leadership meeting on Saturday and
Sunday.
Meanwhile, political analyst Mohammad Qodari of the Indonesian
Survey Institute (LSI) said he suspected the repeated changes in
the rules of the game of the Golkar convention were made solely
for the benefit of Akbar.