"I am still making a comprehensive analysis and calculation on how far the chances it will provide," the former MK chairman through his electronic message to Antara Friday said referring to the plan of PPP to hold a convention to net presidential and vice presidential candidates.
PPP`s Council of Experts Secretary Ahmad Yani said on Thursday that his party would hold a convention for Muslims to register as presidential and vice presidential candidates.
The PPP reason to launch a convention is because the chance for independent presidential and vice presidential candidates to nominate themselves is closed.
"We are open to Mahfud MD, Jusuf Kalla and other Muslim cadres," the PPP secretary said.
Mahfud appreciated the offer, saying he was now still analyzing it in the first place whether he needed to take part or not.
"Taking part in a convention without making calculation in advance could be fruitless," Mahfud said.
According to Mahfud, PPP`s convention and the Democratic Party`s (PD) primary election have the same meaning as a tool to net alternative candidates outside the circles of political party cadres.
The difference between the two is that primary election uses public opinion polls in selecting alternative candidates. The political party only sets certain conditions for the would be candidates.
In the convention system, on the other hand, the political party conducts internal selection by party executives from the party`s branches to the central board office.
"So, in the convention system, the votes are given by the party`s provincial and district branches while in the primary election it is the public who decide," he said.
Earlier, Mahfud said he was ready to run for the presidency in the 2014 elections.
"If the people trust me, as a good citizen, I will not refuse the trust," he said following his farewell speech at the Constitutional Court building here.
On Thursday he said Indonesian migrant workers in Saudi Arabia supported him to become a presidential candidate in the 2014 presidential race.
The former MK chairman is now in Saudi Arabia to perform a minor haj pilgrimage (umroh).
In his electronic message, Mahfud said that support for him to become a presidential candidate in next presidential elections came from not only supporters in Indonesia but also from Indonesian migrant workers (TKI) in Saudi Arabia.
"We in Saudi Arabia, the Indonesian citizens in Madinah, Jidda and Mecca, support Mahfud as a presidential hopeful in the coming presidential elections," Spokesman of TKI in Saudi Arabia Ahmad Fuad said in a dialog with Mahfud.
Fuad said that Indonesia now needed not only a firm leader with high commitment to enforcing the law but also a leader who was clean from various legal cases.
"We are of the view that Mahfud has the criteria," Fuad, who is also the chairman of the special branch of the country`s largest Muslim organization Nahdatul Ulama (NU), in Saudi Arabia, said.
On the support, Mahfud expressed gratitude, asking the TKIs to convey prayers for the realization of Indonesia being led by a figure who could bring the nation to a better life.
"Please do not only pray for me but for other figures so that God would grant goodness for the Indonesian people through the leadership of a responsible person who is able to bring to luck to our nation," Mahfud said.
(A014/B003)
Editor: Jafar M Sidik
Copyright © ANTARA 2013
