Golkar set to name Ical its presidential candidate tonight

Aburizal Bakrie: (JP/R. Berto Wedhatama)

The Golkar Party is set to officially announce later on Friday chairman Aburizal “Ical” Bakrie as its candidate for the 2014 presidential elections amid revelations of some party members’ allegedly involvement in graft cases.

Hundreds of party executives from the central level down to the local branches flocked to the Aston Hotel in Bogor, West Java, to attend the party’s three-day national executive meeting.

Kicked off on Friday morning with Aburizal opening speech, the day’s meeting is expected to conclude with the official announcement of Aburizal candidacy, party deputy secretary general Lalu Mara Satria Wangsa said.

“This meeting would actually be only a formality after our last leadership meeting in October in Jakarta concluded that Aburizal was our sole presidential candidate,” Lalu Mara said.

On July 1, the party will hold a declaration of Aburizal candidacy in Sentul, West Java, which is scheduled to be attended by thousands of Golkar members from all across the country, he added.

Earlier on Friday, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) announced that two Golkar members, namely lawmaker Zulkarnaen Djabar and his son Dendi Prasetya Zulkarnaen Putra, had been named suspects in three cases, including the Koran procurement bribery case that took place in 2011 and 2012 and a computer procurement project in 2011. (mtq)