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Newly appointed vice-presidential candidate Kalla commends Megawati
Senior Golkar Party politician Jusuf Kalla has praised the attitude of Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri in facing the upcoming presidential election
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enior Golkar Party politician Jusuf Kalla has praised the attitude of Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri in facing the upcoming presidential election.
'She [Megawati] is a great stateswoman,' said Kalla in Jakarta on Monday, as quoted by kompas.com.
The former vice president also touched on the attitude of leaders of a number of other political parties who had wished to run in the presidential race. Without mentioning any names, Kalla said they had dared to declare themselves as potential presidential or vice-presidential candidates although their parties' electability was less than five percent, or even as low as one percent.
Kalla said such attitudes were because their objectives in building or joining with a political party were merely to gain power.
Unlike those party leaders, Kalla said Megawati had listened to the wishes of the people in deciding who would be nominated in the upcoming presidential election ' even though her party, the PDI-P, obtained almost 20 percent of the vote in the legislative election.
'It's extraordinary. We should respect it. There is no party leader who has done such a thing, except Ibu Mega,' said Kalla, who is also a former Golkar chairman.
The Jokowi-Kalla candidate pair has been officially declared at Gedung Joang 45 in Menteng, Central Jakarta, and is set to be registered at the General Elections Commission (KPU) today.(ebf)
