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.

Read also: Power struggle grips Golkar ahead of 2024 polls

Doli also claimed that the initiative to have a weekend meeting in Bali came from leaders of provincial party branches.

Golkar previously formed the United Indonesia Coalition (KIB) with the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the United Development Party (PPP).

Golkar has been seeking to create a “grand alliance” without the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), which would see a merger of the Golkar-led KIB and the Great Indonesia Awakening Coalition (KKIR) led by the Gerindra Party.

But the PPP later decided to join the PDI-P in backing the ruling party’s presidential candidate Ganjar Pranowo. Meanwhile, PAN has been exploring its options, including backing State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Minister Erick Thohir as the running mate of Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto.

Airlangga has reportedly explored options to join forces with the Coalition of Change for Unity (KPP), which comprises the NasDem Party, the Democratic Party and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS). The alliance endorsed opposition figurehead Anies Baswedan for 2024, who is seen as a political rival of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.

Golkar’s unclear direction ahead of the elections has become a contentious point that is causing dissatisfaction within its ranks, leading to a call for a leadership change.

Some Golkar members, including Luhut Pandjaitan and Bahlil Lahadalia, both of whom are members of Jokowi’s Cabinet, have expressed interest in replacing Airlangga and running for the party chairmanship.

Airlangga's position as Golkar chairman became even more precarious after he was questioned by the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) on the cooking oil corruption case last week.

Support, however, has been growing for Airlangga in recent days, with former Golkar chairmen Aburizal Bakrie and Jusuf Kalla and other senior members of the party dismissing the call to remove the current chairman.

Read also: Airlangga fights back amid Golkar turmoil

Following the turmoil within his party, Airlangga seemed to shift Golkar's previous stance of distancing itself from the PDI-P, of which Jokowi is a member.

Last week the economic affairs minister hosted senior PDI-P politician Puan Maharani and her entourage at his private residence in South Jakarta, opening the possibility of backing a Ganjar presidential bid.

The meeting occurred after Airlangga held a private talk with President Jokowi at the State Palace following a limited cabinet meeting on Wednesday. It had been speculated that the two discussed politics, but Jokowi dismissed this idea.

Although Golkar provincial chapters have declared their full trust in Airlangga to choose candidates to endorse in the 2024 presidential election, some members reportedly urged Airlangga to support Prabowo’s presidential bid during the closed-door meeting in Bali. (nal)