GOLKAR-DEMOCRATIC PARTY TALKS ON COALITION FAIL

Jakarta, April 22 (ANTARA) - Recent political communications between the Golkar Party and the Democratic Party (PD) have failed to yield any accord towards a coalition so that Golkar will now turn to other parties, a Golkar executive said.

"After a week of intensive political communications on continuing the SBY-JK government between Golkar and PD, the two parties have not been able to find a meeting point to from a coalition," Golkar Secretary General Sumarsono said here on Wednesday.
Golkar which was represented by its Team 3 and PD with its Team 6 conducted a week of intensive political communication in an effort to build a coalition.
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY who is the chief patron of PD, is the incumbent president while Jusuf Kalla (JK) who is the Golkar chairman is the incumbent vice president.
The executive board of Golkar held a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the results of the intensive political communications between Team 3 of Golkar and Team 6 of PD.
Due to the failure of the two parties to find a meeting point to form a coalition, the Golkar central executive board gave the mandate to its chairman Jusuf Kalla to open new political communications with other political parties, Soemarsono said.
"The central executive board has given the party chairman the mandate to open political communications with other parties on building a strong and effective government," Soemarsono said.
The decision of the central executive board gave Jusuf Kalla a chance to continue Golkar's talks with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) and other parties other than the Democratic Party.
Based on the results of the temporary vote count of the April 9 legislative elections at the National Tabulation Center, the Golkar Party and PDIP would finish a distant second and third with respective vote gains s of more than 14 percent behind the triumphant Democratic Party which grabbed over 20 percent.
The presidential election is schedule for July 8, 2009.