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Ade Komarudin, Setya Novanto vie for Golkar chairmanship
Former House of Representatives speaker Setya Novanto (left) shakes hands with his predecessor, Ade Komarudin, at a House plenary session on Dec
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Former House of Representatives speaker Setya Novanto (left) shakes hands with his predecessor, Ade Komarudin, at a House plenary session on Dec. 18, soon after Setya resigned from his position as House speaker. (tribunnews.com/Irwan Rismawan) (left) shakes hands with his predecessor, Ade Komarudin, at a House plenary session on Dec. 18, soon after Setya resigned from his position as House speaker. (tribunnews.com/Irwan Rismawan)
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span class="caption">Former House of Representatives speaker Setya Novanto (left) shakes hands with his predecessor, Ade Komarudin, at a House plenary session on Dec. 18, soon after Setya resigned from his position as House speaker. (tribunnews.com/Irwan Rismawan)
House of Representatives Speaker Ade Komarudin and former House speaker Setya Novanto are nominated as candidates to replace Aburizal Bakrie as Golkar Party chairman.
The nominations were announced on Wednesday in Jakarta by Golkar deputy treasurer Bambang Soesatyo, a supporter of Aburizal.
The move follows demands by the Aburizal camp for an extraordinary national congress.
Bambang also mentioned Golkar secretary general Idrus Marham as another potential candidate. "Those three names may finally compete in the race," said Bambang at the House of Representatives in Jakarta on Wednesday, adding that Ade could be the strongest candidate in the race.
Ade replaced Setya, who resigned on Dec. 16, 2015 while the House's ethic council was investigating his role in a case of alleged misconduct. Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said had reported Setya to the council for allegedly claiming to have won the approval of President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo to help mining company PT Freeport Indonesia extend its contract for a gold and copper mine in Papua in return for company shares and projects.
Ade Komarudin declined to comment on Bambang's statement, saying that the most importing thing was to unify the conflicting elements within the party during the extraordinary congress.
"It's better to focus on unifying Golkar to restore it as one entity. The chairmanship is an easy matter," Ade said on the sidelines of a press conference.
One of the aims of the Golkar national leadership meeting was to organize the extraordinary congress, which has received support from senior party leaders like Vice President Jusuf Kalla, former president B. J. Habibie and former Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung.
Meanwhile, the Agung camp also expressed support for the extraordinary congress on the condition that it, too, be involved in organizing the event. Both camps within the party see the national congress as the only solution to the internal conflict.
Golkar is divided by rivalry between two factions; one led by Aburizal, who was elected at the party's national congress in Bali in November, 2014, and a splinter faction led by Agung Laksono, who was elected at the Ancol National Congress in December, 2015. (bbn).(+)
