Susilo to name Jusuf Kalla as running mate

Sri Wahyuni and Andi Hajramurni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta/Makassar

Leading Presidential candidate Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono revealed on Saturday that he would choose Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla as his running mate for the July 5 election, making him the first to name a vice presidential candidate.

Susilo said Jusuf Kalla, one of six top Golkar figures vying for the party's presidential slot during Tuesday's convention, had agreed to become his vice presidential candidate in the country's first-ever direct presidential election.

"Insya Allah (God willing) I will team up with him (Jusuf Kalla)," Susilo said in Yogyakarta on Saturday.

Jusuf Kalla could not be reached for comment on Saturday, but in an interview with Elshinta radio station on Saturday, the minister revealed that he would announce on Sunday that he would pull out of the Golkar Convention and the Cabinet.

"Tomorrow, I will announce my decision," Jusuf Kalla said, adding that his resignation from the Cabinet was mandatory under the election law.

Press reports said earlier that he would withdraw from the Golkar Convention and run for the vice presidential post in the July 5 election under the Democrat Party's flag.

Recent opinion polls showed that Susilo, the presidential candidate to be nominated by the Democrat Party, and Jusuf Kalla topped the list of presidential and vice presidential pairs.

A survey conducted by Soegeng Sarjadi Syndicated from April 10 to 14 revealed that 43 percent of 5,000 respondents nationwide would vote for Susilo, compared to incumbent President Megawati Soekarnoputri's with a meager 20.5 percent. For the vice presidential seat, Jusuf Kalla got 20.5 percent, compared to the leader of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) Hidayat Nurwahid's 15.78 percent.

"I have met Pak Jusuf Kalla ... and we have the same commitment and ideas on how to establish a more effective government that can settle problems facing the country in the next five years," Susilo said.

Separately, Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung shrugged off the planned resignation of Jusuf Kalla from the party convention, saying it would not make any difference.

"There is no problem if he wants to quit the convention. It's his right," Akbar, one of the party's presidential hopefuls, said in Makassar, South Sulawesi on Saturday.

He, however, emphasized that Jusuf Kalla's nomination as vice presidential candidate from the Democrat Party did not represent Golkar.

Akbar said Golkar's final candidates would be chosen in the April 20 convention, Tuesday.

"If Jusuf Kalla wants to run with Susilo, it's his right. But he is not Golkar's candidate because the official candidate will be decided in the convention," he said.

He expressed optimism that Golkar would still get strong support from South Sulawesi even though Jusuf Kalla, a successful businessman from the province, is effectively turning his back on the party and its convention.

Meanwhile, the reeling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) announced on Saturday that it had picked two names on a shortlist for Megawati's running mate in the July 5 presidential election.

PDI-P deputy secretary-general Pramono Anung said Megawati already had the two names but declined to reveal them.

Speculation was rife that Megawati, whose party garnered only 19.57 percent of over 90 million votes counted in the provisional tally of the legislative election, down from around 34 percent in 1999 election, had tabbed Jusuf Kalla or United Development Party (PPP) leader and current vice president Hamzah Haz as her running mate.