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nited Development Party (PPP) chairman Suryadharma Ali is on the verge of losing the top job in the country'€™s oldest Islamic-based party following his presence at a recent Gerindra Party rally.

PPP deputy chairman Emron Pangkapi said on Friday he had received support from leaders of the party'€™s local branches, including those in West Java and South Sulawesi, to hold a party plenary meeting soon to officially remove Suryadharma from his position.

'€œThe party chairman has violated several party rules, including that which prohibits party leaders campaigning in other parties'€™ rallies. His attendance at the Gerindra rally also challenged the party'€™s recent decision not to include [Gerindra presidential candidate] Prabowo Subianto as a potential PPP presidential candidate,'€ Emron told The Jakarta Post.

Suryadharma, accompanied by two PPP figures '€” Djan Faridz, who is also the public housing minister, and cleric Nur Iskandar '€” made a surprise appearance at a Gerindra rally last moth at Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta. Suryadharma also made a short speech to Gerindra supporters, during which he applauded Prabowo'€™s vision for the country.

The PPP has not yet announced a coalition partner for the upcoming presidential election. Suryadharma'€™s appearance at the event, however, has raised speculation that the two parties would ally to pave the way for Prabowo'€™s presidential bid.

Emron said Suryadharma'€™s uncoordinated political approach to Gerindra undermined many party members'€™ confidence in him.

'€œThe chairman never consulted with party executives about his political approach [to Gerindra]. Many party executives, meanwhile, have chosen to remian silent, but there is no doubt that there is growing disillusionment among the party'€™s 27 branches in the leadership of the party chairman,'€ he said.

Established in 1973 as a result of the merger of four Islamic political parties, the PPP used to be the country'€™s only Islamic-based party until 1999. The party had hoped to garner 12 percent of the vote in the April 9 legislative election, but quick counts have revealed that the PPP only secured some 6 percent of the vote, a slight increase from its 5.3 percent in 2009.

Gerindra, meanwhile, has garnered just under 12 percent of the vote, according to the majority of early returns.

The Presidential Election Law requires a political party or a coalition of parties to obtain a minimum 25 percent of the popular vote or 20 percent of seats in the House of Representatives to be entitled to nominate a presidential candidate.

Suryadharma, however, considered the attempt to unseat him as a minor threat.

'€œLike a corporation, the PPP has become a go-public party that has many stakeholders who have the right to speak out. So, just let them speak out,'€ he said on Thursday.

He added that the only way to dismiss him was through a party congress or an extraordinary congress.

'€œI received the leadership mandate from the party'€™s muktamar [congress] and can only be dismissed through another muktamar,'€ he said.

PPP lawmaker and politician Okky Asokawati confirmed the ongoing discontent in many PPP branches about Suryadharma'€™s public appearance with Prabowo.

'€œBut only party elites [are upset], not the grass roots,'€ she told the Post.

PPP executives, including Okky, were scheduled to meet on Friday night to discuss the party'€™s performance in the legislative election. The meeting, however, was cancelled at the last minute after PPP secretary-general Romahurmuziy asked his colleagues to postpone the meeting until next week.

The PPP had initially professed its support for Gerindra in the 2009 election, but the party made an about-face at the eleventh hour and backed the Democratic Party, which then built a ruling coalition with the Golkar Party, the National Awakening Party (PKB), the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the National Mandate Party (PAN).

As a result of the defection, Gerindra teamed up with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) to nominate chairperson Megawati Soekarnoputri as presidential candidate with Prabowo as running mate. The Hanura Party led by Wiranto also joined the coalition.

Head of the political science department at Tasikmalaya-based Siliwangi University, Akhmad Satori, however, believed the PPP internal conflict would not influence loyal party supporters at grassroots level.

'€œSuryadharma'€™s only mistake is that his political move [to Gerindra] took place at the wrong place and at the wrong time,'€ he said.