The ruling Democratic Party wrapped up its presidential convention on Friday with the admission that its presidential candidates were no match to Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo and Prabowo Subianto.

Party chairman Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said that with only 10 percent electoral support it was impossible for the party to go it alone in the presidential race.

The party, he said, would, therefore, hold a national leadership meeting (Rapimnas) on Sunday to decide whether it was possible to form an alliance with other parties, to endorse the convention winner, or join one of the two coalitions led by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the Gerindra Party.

The final survey conducted in May by three independent pollsters placed State-Owned Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan as the winner of the convention with electability ranging from 17.5 to 23 percent, the convention committee announced Friday. Pramono Edhie Wibowo '€” First Lady Ani Yudhoyono'€™s younger brother '€” came in second place with electability ranging from 1.7 to 4.3 percent.

House of Representatives speaker Marzuki Alie came third, with 1.9 to 6 percent, followed by former trade minister Gita Wirjawan with 2.5 to 3.9 percent.

Dahlan, however, scored poorly when the PDI-P'€™s Jokowi and Gerindra'€™s Prabowo were included in the equation. The eccentric minister garnered only 2 to 2.9 percent of the support, which is far behind Jokowi and Prabowo with 29 to 45 percent and 29 to 35 percent, respectively.

The presidential convention was in tatters long before the legislative election, with many pollsters predicting that the ruling party would garner less than 10 percent of the vote. Several senior party members had made it clear that it was unrealistic to think the party would nominate the winner of the convention as a presidential candidate.

'€œThe Democratic Party realized that the 10 percent [obtained during the April legislative election] limited our next move,'€ Yudhoyono said in his speech. '€œ[And] although I am proud [of the 11 convention participants], their electability is behind other leading presidential candidates; this also limits our options.'€

The President emphasized that '€œa coalition must be based on the will to form a coalition'€.

'€œIf there is a proposal that the Democratic Party and the Golkar Party or other parties [should] sit together and name presidential and vice presidential candidates ['€¦] the process would not be easy since each prioritizes their own interests,'€ he said. '€œEverything should be weighed up.'€

Party deputy chairman, Jhonny Allen Marbun said they were still lobbying parties that had not yet officially declared support for certain presidential candidates such as Golkar, the Hanura Party and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).

He believed that his party still had a chance of merging with Golkar, which is now moving closer to the PDI-P.

Max Sopacua, another party deputy chairman, said both the Dems and Golkar had formed teams to see whether such a coalition was feasible. '€œLet them work,'€ he said. '€œBoth are still waiting for each Rapimnas.'€

The Democrats seemed reluctant to name Dahlan the winner of the convention as he might not even be nominated or offered as a vice presidential candidate.

Party executive Syariefuddin Hasan said: '€œThere is a possibility [to name a vice presidential candidate]. It could be a participant or external candidate. However, we [still] want those on the convention list.'€

When asked about his victory, Dahlan told reporters that he felt like he had won a chocolate that he could not eat or had been snatched by somebody else.

'€œI'€™m happy but realistic,'€ he said.

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