The Golkar party founded by former dictator Suharto kept its lead yesterday in Indonesia's general election and its leader Akbar Tanjung won support in his bid for the presidency.
With 89 million votes counted after the April 5 poll, Golkar had 20.99 percent compared to 19.67 percent for President Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). Tanjung has already claimed victory, saying most of the votes still to be tallied will come from his party's powerbase in outlying regions.
Megawati will have to battle to keep her job in a presidential election on July 5 after PDI-P's poor showing compared to 1999, when it took 34 percent of the votes.
Her former security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, whose new Democrat party performed strongly in the election, is by far the presidential front-runner, according to opinion surveys.
Tanjung, one of Indonesia's most experienced politicians, will face five other Golkar candidates at a convention on Tuesday to pick the party's presidential candidate.
He was convicted of graft involving food aid for the poor but was cleared in February on appeal to the Supreme Court.
Opinion polls have shown him ranked only fourth or so among people's presidential preferences. But some analysts expect him to secure the nomination given that he has apparently delivered victory in the parliamentary poll.
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