PKB gives Gus Dur its presidential nod

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The National Awakening Party (PKB) all but officially named on Saturday former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid as its flag bearer in the upcoming presidential election, paving the way for the near-blind Muslim cleric to return to power.

"Gus Dur is PKB's presidential candidate, we have no alternative candidate," PKB leader Alwi Shihab said on Saturday.

According to Alwi, the nomination was made in a national working meeting of PKB's committee in Jakarta on election strategies.

"Should Gus Dur's candidacy be put forward at the next national working meeting, I think the nomination will be endorsed," said Alwi, who was foreign affairs minister during Gus Dur's tenure from October 1999 to July 2001.

Gus Dur, who was elected president in October 1999, was impeached by the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) in July 2001 for incompetence.

PKB, which came fourth in the 1999 general election, would decide on Gus Dur's running mate in its upcoming national working meeting, Alwi said without elaborating.

Gus Dur's official nomination would prevent other candidates from running under PKB, which was set up by the country's biggest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) ahead of the 1999 elections.

Rumors had suggested that PKB would nominate either Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono or NU chairman Hasyim Muzadi as its presidential candidate.

Alwi said that the party's national working meeting was yet to be scheduled.

As many as 19 provincial party branches have asked that the party's national working meeting be prior to the general election on April 5.

Alwi also told the party's campaigners to disseminate information on Gus Dur's nomination to their constituents. NU has around 40 million members across the country.