"Many political parties have contacted me and offered the chance."
Pekanbaru, Riau (ANTARA News) - Constitutional Court (MK) Chairman Mahfud MD said he might soon decide whether he would nominate himself as a presidential candidate for the 2014 presidential race.

"I will not make any decision right now. I have neither yet thought about any political party," he said here on Saturday.

The MK chairman was here to attend a discussion on the press organized by the Indonesian Journalist Association (PWI).

Earlier rumors have it that Mahfud has a serious chance to become a presidential aspirant for the 2014 presidential race, following a survey showing his position in first place.

The Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), in its recent survey, placed Mahfud in the first position as a person who has the best chance to replace incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) in 2014.

Mahfud said he had not yet accepted any offers from political parties to enter the presidential race in 2014.

Besides Mahfud, LSI also included four national figures as persons who might be included as presidential nominees, including former vice president Jusuf Kalla, State-owned Enterprise Minister Dahlan Iskan, former finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and former chairman of the People`s Consultative Assembly (MPR) Hidayat Nur Wahid.

Mahfud said that many political parties had contacted him and, at the end of their conversations, they touched on presidential nomination matters.

"Many political parties have contacted me and offered the chance, particularly after the LSI released the results of its survey," he said.

But the MK chairman said he had not yet offered a serious response to any of them. "I just will wait until the correct time for me to make a decision," he added.

Asked for his comments about the results of the LSI survey on the most likely person to be nominated as a would-be presidential candidate, Mahfud said he was deeply honored.

"It just is logical that if I feel honored because the LSI survey results indicated that I might occupy the first position in the presidential nominee prediction," he added.
(Uu.A014/INE/KR-BSR/H-YH)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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