T

he race to be the Golkar Party's next chairman is growing heated, with all three frontrunners claiming to have secured the necessary backing.

The three top candidates for the seat currently held by Vice President Jusuf Kalla are Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie, media magnate Surya Paloh and upstart legislator Yuddy Chrisnandy.

Yuddy claimed Wednesday he had received the blessings of Kalla and several party executives to run for chairman.

"To date, I have received the spoken backing of the leaders of five Golkar provincial offices and about 50 regency branches, in addition to a group of youth members within the party," Yuddy told The Jakarta Post.

"If elected chairman, I will appoint Kalla to head up the party's advisory board."

Yuddy has assembled a special team to further his cause, consisting of 60 Golkar members to be led by the outspoken Zainal Bintang, a member of the party's central board.

Industry Minister Fahmi Idris, who served as Kalla's campaign manager during the latter's disastrous attempt to contest the presidency, was appointed head of the advisory board for Yuddy's campaign team, while Indra J. Piliang was named campaign manager.

Meanwhile, another member of the party's central board, Ade Komaruddin, claimed Aburizal had the support of 481 regional branch heads.

Surya Paloh, Yuddy said, had also claimed to have received the backing of 300 regional branch leaders.

Golkar is set to hold its national caucus in August to choose a new leader to replace the increasingly sidelined Kalla.

Internal squabbles within Golkar to oust Kalla came to light after the collapse of its coalition with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party ahead of the presidential election.

Calls for fresh blood at the top were amplified after Kalla was roundly defeated in the election.

Official vote counts from several provinces have confirmed unofficial quick counts held by several pollsters that said Yudhoyono would win the election with more than 60 percent of total votes, with Kalla getting a mere 12 percent.

Several of the party's regional branch heads have called for the national caucus to elect a new chairman to be pushed forward.

Political analyst Fachry Ali said Aburizal would very likely win the election, given his huge support from regional branches, coupled with his more than adequate financial support.

"Aburizal is currently the only candidate with real support from regional branches, because he's been preparing himself for Golkar's top post for a long time," he said.

He added media mogul Surya could win support from certain regional branches.

"Yuddy has slimmer chances of winning the race," Fachry said.

"He's well-known to the public, but he has yet to earn the support of the party's regional branches."

Fachry said the election of a new chairman would effectively determine the party's future, adding whoever won would have to work hard to overcome the Yudhoyono legacy and the Democratic Party's dominance in the 2014 elections.

He also said Golkar needed huge investments, including the financing of its "political projects" that would benefit the public.

"The Golkar Party must launch real programs that will benefit the people," he said.