Surya Paloh a strong contender to lead Hanura

Media mogul Surya Paloh, who lost recently in a race for the Golkar Party chairmanship, has moved to the People's Conscience Party (Hanura) to try his luck in the party's leadership contest next month.

Hanura's East Java chapter official Iwan Sumartono announced Tuesday that Surya Paloh was a strong contender to lead Hanura, replacing the party’s founder Wiranto.

"One of the strongest candidates is Surya Paloh. Pak Wiranto would then become the party's chief advisor," Iwan Sumartono told tempointeraktif.com on Tuesday.

Iwan noted that the majority of Hanura's local branches, in fact, still wanted Wiranto to lead the party.

"Even if Pak Wiranto remained the party chairman, maybe Surya Paloh would become a deputy chairman," he added.

Meanwhile, the strongest candidate for the party's secretary-general position is Dossy Iskandar, currently the East Java branch chairman.