Coordinating Minister for People’s Welfare Aburizal Bakrie was elected the new chairman of the Golkar Party early on Thursday, paving the way for the much-anticipated alliance with the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Aburizal secured 296 votes to edge out closest rival Surya Paloh who collected 240 votes for the post relinquished by Vice President Jusuf Kalla on Tuesday. Two other candidates – House of Representatives lawmaker Yuddy Chrisnandi and former president Soeharto’s son Hutomo “Tommy” Mandala Putra – were voteless.
Organizers of the Golkar’s national congress in the Riau capital city of Pekanbaru registered 538 eligible voters for the election.
Aburizal, former House speaker Agung Laksono and former Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung hugged each other as they celebrated the victory, Antara reported.
“Congratulation, congratulation,” Surya told Aburizal, who will lead Golkar for the next five years.
In his acceptance speech, Aburizal said he would dedicate his time for the party to help revive its past glory.
Aburizal had previously said he would choose party jobs over government post if elected the Golkar chief.
Speculation has been rife that Yudhoyono will allocate at least two ministerial posts for Golkar in exchange for its support for the next government.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Email Us