All Golkar Party's provincial branches have declared their support for Airlangga Hartarto, strengthening his position amid a tumultuous moment in which some party members have suggested overthrowing him as party chairman ahead of next year’s presidential and legislative elections.

Discontent has grown within Golkar over its unclear direction regarding the election, with some senior party members having called for an extraordinary congress to replace Airlangga, should the chairman fail to form an electoral alliance by August to secure his presidential ticket.

Airlangga has been eyeing a chance to run in the presidential election despite his persistently low electability rating in various opinion polls. Putting Airlangga on the ballot has been challenging for Golkar, which does not have enough seats in the legislature to pass the 20 percent presidential threshold needed to field a candidate on its own.

In a closed-door meeting in Bali on Sunday, party leaders from all provincial branches rejected the initiative to hold an extraordinary party congress to replace Airlangga before his term ends in 2024. An extraordinary congress can only happen if two thirds of the party’s provincial offices agree to it.

"We declared our 100 percent refusal to an extraordinary congress. We want to focus on working with Airlangga to win all political agendas for the 2024 general election," acting chairman of Golkar’s Papua office Ahmad Doli Kurnia said, as reported by Kompas.com.

Doli added that they would allow Airlangga to have the final say on who the party should endorse for the 2024 presidential election.

"We also [trust] our chairman's decision on the negotiation process and his strategy. So far, we saw him quite active in communicating with all political party leaders," he said, as quoted by Tribunnews.com.

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