Golkar begins national leaders meeting on presidential election

Golkar Party began its national leaders meeting, aimed at deciding the party's final stance for the upcoming presidential election in July, at Hotel Borobudur in Lapangan Banteng, Central Jakarta, on Thursday.

Golkar came up short in the legislative election. The party currently ranks second after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party (PD) based on latest vote count.

Golkar is forced to deeply consider the possibility of building a coalition with the Democratic Party in order to maintain its grip on the country's politics.

However, Golkar chairman Jusuf announced Wednesday that the party would not form a coalition with PD.

"The discussion with PD ended up in a stalemate because Golkar does not want to bow its head to PD", Kalla, the current vice president, said during his opening speech in  Thursday's leaders meeting.

PD demands that Golkar nominates more than one name as the vice president candidate for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) in the presidential election.

On the other hand, Kalla and his block in Golkar want to nominate only one name, which many thinks is the chairman himself whose loyalty to SBY was questionable after declaring his wishes during campaign rallies to run for president replacing SBY.

SBY has stressed the importance of loyalty from his next vice president candidate.

Kalla's one sided split decision has also caused a rift within Golkar because some blocks within the party still prefer to go hand in hand with PD. The other block wants to go with PD's wishes in naming several candidates and its front running man is the party's senior politician Akbar Tanjung.

Golkar aims to settle its internal differences after the national leaders meeting.(hdt)