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hief patron and head of the supervisory board of the Gerindra Party, Prabowo Subianto, has yet to appoint a replacement for party chairman Suhardi who passed away on Thursday.

Gerindra secretary-general Ahmad Muzani said that the party was currently still in mourning for Suhardi, who was not only a chairman but also co-founder of the party, and would not decide on his successor in the immediate future.

'€œThe party is still mourning for Pak Suhardi. Out of respect we won'€™t talk about his replacement until seven days after he has passed away,'€ Ahmad told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

Ahmad added that Prabowo, as the party'€™s chief patron, had full authority to decide on Suhardi'€™s successor, however, so far there had been no talk about it by Prabowo.

Suhardi, who died from lung cancer, had chaired the party since it was founded in 2008. He was also a professor at Gadjah Mada University'€™s forestry school, he specialized in food security.

Nopran Marjani, the secretary of the party'€™s South Sumatra chapter, said that Suhardi was a hard-working chairman who did not hesitate to visit party members at the grassroots level in order to boost the party'€™s electability during the legislative election.

'€œI hope that the supervisory board will appoint a good successor with similar competence to Suhardi, as you know our party does not apply a voting mechanism to appoint the party chairman,'€ Nopran said.

Article 18 paragraph 2 of the Gerindra'€™s internal rules stipulates that the head of the supervisory board holds the authority to, among other things, decide the party'€™s policies, appoint the party chairman and deputy, hold national leadership meetings, appoint presidential and vice-presidential candidates from the party, as well as proposing ministerial candidates to the government.

Executive director of Indikator Politik Indonesia, a political-analysis group, Burhanuddin Muhtadi, said internal democracy within Gerindra is somewhat questionable due to Prabowo'€™s dominant position in the party.

'€œAs far as I can see, democracy is not very strong in Gerindra. Unlike other parties that elect their chairmen through voting by the party'€™s members or regional executive boards, in Gerindra the decision is entirely in Prabowo'€™s hands,'€ Burhanuddin said.

Burhanuddin added that there was a strong possibility that Gerindra'€™s new chairman would come from Prabowo'€™s close circle such as deputy chairman Fadli Zon.

'€œHow strong your relationship with Prabowo will most likely determine your chance of becoming Gerindra'€™s next chairman,'€ he said.

Fadli is considered as among the most trusted underlings of Prabowo and was very vocal in defending the former general during the election period.

Yoserizal, head of the party'€™s Yogyakarta chapter, said that Fadli was the best candidate to be the next chairman due to his similarity to Suhardi in terms of humility and modesty. (idb)