Prabowo and Puan Maharani on The List of Vice Presidential Candidacy

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The Golkar Party is currently conducting surveys on a number of national figures as part of its effort to find a suitable running mate for Aburizal Bakrie, the party’s likely presidential candidate, a spokesman said.

"We have been and are still doing a process to select popular national figures with high electability whom we might support as our candidate for vice president," Golkar Party Secretary General Idrus Marham said at the party’s headquarters here Wednesday.

Among the national figures the surveys had covered were Yogyakarta Governor Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, former Indonesian Democracy Party-Struggle (PDIP) secretary general Pramono Anung, Constitutional Court Chairman Mahfud MD. Also on the list of to be surveyed figures were Gerindra Party Advisory Board Chairman Prabowo Subianto, Regional Representatives Council (DPD) Chairman Irman Gusman and PDIP Associate Chairperson Puan Maharani.

"There are a few other names and the matter is subject to continuous reviews." He said the Golkar party was continuing to communicate with the people to absorb their aspirations while observing the electability of the surveyed national figures.

Idrus said Golkar’s presidential nominee would be its chairman, Aburizal Bakrie, whose electability , according to repeated surveys, was continuing to rise. "If some time in 2011 Aburizal was in seventh place on the list of favored presidential hopefuls, now there are surveys which have put him on top."

The Golkar Party was continuously communicating with the people about a presidential candidate because it wanted to nominate someone with maximum chances of winning the 2014 election. The chances of victory would obviously only be enhanced if Aburizal’s running mate also commanded high electability, he said.