PKB gives Gus Dur its presidential nod

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.