T

he NasDem Party chairman, Surya Paloh, said that he was ready to run for president in the upcoming election.

“Run for president, why not? I am ready to compete. But first, NasDem must succeed in the election,” Surya, who only recently took over the party’s leadership, said as quoted by kompas.com .

He said that he would only run for president if the party managed to get into the big three in the legislative election. He argued that only parties with a major number of seats in the House of Representatives could nominate a president, dismissing calls for the annulment of the 20 percent presidential threshold.

NasDem is the only new party to participate in the 2014 elections. Surya, who co-founded the party following his exit from the Golkar Party, is said to have presidential ambitions though he was never listed among the top potential presidential candidates according to several pollsters.