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emocratic Party chairman Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will likely face opposition in his bid to secure reelection for the party chairmanship now that at least two senior politicians, former House of Representatives speaker Marzuki Alie and former lawmaker I Gede Pasek Suardika, have made moves to run in the race.

Although the two politicians have yet to formally announce their bids, the two have won support from an opposition faction within the party that seeks to challenge Yudhoyono'€™s '€œauthoritarian'€ leadership style.

Loyalists of former party chairman Anas Urbaningrum, who is currently serving eight years in prison for graft, have stepped out in protest of what they claim is a unilateral decision by the party central board to dismiss them from their positions as leaders of party local branch.

Iwan Setya Purbowo, a former leader of the Democratic Party'€™s branch in Salatiga, Central Java said that on Tuesday, he, without prior notification, had been removed from his post for supporting Anas.

Besides Iwan, three of his colleagues from Central Java '€” Muhammad Rohim from Batang regency; Wibowo Agung Sunyoto from Semarang and Mohammad Iqsan from Purbalingga regency '€” were also dismissed for the same reason.

'€œThere are 24 loyalists of Anas in the branch offices throughout the country. We are the first four who were dismissed from our positions,'€ Iwan said.

Iwan said that they had tried to air their grievances in the past year and only went public after getting no response.

The Democratic Party is scheduled to hold a national congress next month with the main agenda of reelecting Yudhoyono as party chairman for the 2015-2020 term.

During the planned congress, which is slated to take place in Surabaya, East Java, 34 party provincial leaders, as well as at least 500 leaders of party'€™s regional branches are expected to cast their votes for Yudhoyono.

The congress is expected to see the reappointment of Yudhoyono in a unanimous decision.

Marzuki, who currently serves as deputy chairman of the party'€™s High Assembly, encouraged fellow party executives to reconsider the plan to reelect Yudhoyono as it could hinder democracy within the party.

Marzuki was convinced that more opposition figures would emerge in the days leading to the congress.

'€œI am not aiming to challenge anyone. I just want to respond to the aspiration [for a new leader] voiced by party members,'€ Marzuki said.

Separately, Pasek, who is also known as a confidant of Anas, said that opposition to Yudhoyono could bring change during the congress.

'€œExpect a surprise in the congress,'€ he said.

Commenting on potential Yudhoyono challengers, political observer Yunarto Wijaya from the Jakarta-based Charta Politika, said that the Democratic Party was facing challenges of regeneration, a problem that dogged the majority political parties in the country.

'€œCarrying out the democratic process internally is a test for Democratic Party,'€ he said.

Syamsuddin Haris from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) said what was currently transpiring in the Democratic Party was the '€œpersonalization of the a political party'€.

'€œIt reflects SBY'€™s [Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono] one-man show leadership style. The Democratic Party must deal with this matter carefully or it could lose support from party members nationwide and that will adversely impact the party'€™s performance in the 2019 election,'€ he said.