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emocratic Party chairman and former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has kicked off a campaign to secure support for his reelection as party chairman.

On Friday, Yudhoyono traveled to Bali to hold a meeting with leaders of the party'€™s branches in the east of the country.

The Democratic Party is expected to hold a congress to elect a new chairman in April.

On Saturday, Yudhoyono is scheduled to hold meetings with party leaders from Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, Maluku, West Maluku, West Papua and Papua.

Many are speculating that Yudhoyono has convened the meeting to consolidate support and boost the party'€™s morale, which has been in the gutter in recent years given multiple graft cases involving its members.

The meeting is also likely to be used by Yudhoyono to secure support for his reelection.

Democratic Party ethics council chairman Amir Syamsuddin said the majority of party members in the country still wanted Yudhoyono to lead the party.

'€œI believe Democratic Party members throughout the country remain supportive of Pak SBY and trust him to carry out the role as chairman for the next period,'€ Amir said in a telephone interview on Friday.

'€œBut of course, there are those who have declared their intention to join the race, which is natural in a democracy.'€

However, Amir maintained that it would be best for both Yudhoyono and the party if he was reelected as party chairman.

'€œYudhoyono is still the one who can bring unity to the party,'€ he said, adding that he believed that under Yudhoyono'€™s chairmanship, the party could win more support in the 2019 legislative election.

Amir also dismissed speculation that the Bali meeting will be used by Yudhoyono to contain opposition against his leadership.

'€œIt'€™s normal and is a part of a series of preparatory moves for the upcoming party congress,'€ he said.

Democratic Party executive chairman Syariefuddin Hasan declined to comment on Yudhoyono'€™s move, saying that '€œit was only a meeting with party members and leaders from the eastern part of Indonesia'€.

Party politician Gede Pasek, who is known as a member of the opposition camp in the party, has expressed his intention to join the race for the party'€™s leadership and called on the leadership to allow the true expression of democracy to prevail in the party.

'€œIf [the congress] is set up so that one figure [wins the race], it is better not to hold a congress at all. It would save a lot of money,'€ he said on Friday in Bali as quoted by Antara news agency.

Meanwhile, party advisory council member Ahmad Mubarok denied speculation that the Bali meeting would end with an endorsement of Yudhoyono'€™s second term in the party.

'€œHe just wants to bring a unified vision to the party so that rifts will not take place in the next congress,'€ he said.

Mubarok said Yudhoyono had refrained from declaring his candidacy early or from endorsing any candidate to avoid rifts in the party.

Arie Sudjito, a political analyst at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, said it was a foregone conclusion that Yudhoyono would win a second term as party chairman.

'€œThe Democratic Party'€™s members are still rebuilding the party [after its members were involved in many graft cases]. Yudhoyono is probably the best person to lead the party because he'€™s also the party'€™s chief patron,'€ Arie said.