GOLKAR MUST BE REALISTIC: LAKSONO

Jakarta, April 15 (ANTARA) - Golkar Deputy Chairman Agung Laksono said his party should take a realistic step and not force itself in nominating its own presidential candidate because it had not won last Thursday's legislative elections.

"The Golkar regional branch leaders' support for the Golkar chairman to run for president should be reconsidered," Laksono said at the parliament building here on Tuesday.
He said the discourse on the need for Golkar to adopt a realistic step had begun to roll on among the Golkar elite. The same discourse on the need for Golkar to continue its coalition with the Democratic Party was also gaining strong support.
But Laksono who is also the House Speaker, said that he did not know the details of what Jusuf Kalla and Susilo Bambng Yudhoyono discussed during their meeting on Monday night.
Yudhoyono, who is the chairman of the Democratic Party's board of patrons, is the incumbent president while Kalla who is also chairman of the Golkar Party, is the incument vice president.
Yudhoyono on Monday met with Kalla for much anticipated talks that many say could hold the key to the incumbent's bid for a second straight term in office.
Deputy Secretary General of Golkar Rully Chairul Azwar said that Golkar should discuss again its regional branches support for the nomination of Jusuf Kalla as Golkar's presidential candidate.
"Before the elections, Kalla was picked up by regional branches to be nominated as Golkar's presidential hopeful. Now, their support should be rediscussed again by involving them," Azwar said.
On Thursday last week a legislative election was held for the 2009 - 2014 period with 38 political parties vying for 560 seats in the House of Representatives.
A quick count by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) indicated that the Democratic Party won 20.48 percent in the first place of the votes followed by PDI-P with 14.33 percent and the Golkar Party with 13.95 percent in the second and third places respectively.