"Aburizal Bakrie won 100 percent of the votes, so he is the elected general chairman of Golkar for the 2014-2019 period," the chairman of the 9th congress of the party, Nurdin Halid, declared after the vote.
The election was carried out after rules for the vote were set and nine formers tasked with electing the partys central board members were determined.
Only one candidate resigned from running for the partys chairmanship, after which Halid stated, "The candidate standing for general chairmanship is Ir H. Aburizal Bakrie."
The chairman of the congress then verified that the candidate met all the requirements to contest for chairmanship.
"There are 534 valid votes and some others from several organizations that are invalid," he noted.
Bakries re-election by acclamation is the first in the history of the Golkar Party.
The congress also declared Akbar Tanjung as the chairman of the partys advisory board.
Moreover, several party figures protested against the congress, stating that it is illegal to merely re-elect Bakrie, a noted businessman pointed out.
The figures, including former minister and deputy general chairman of the party Agung Laksono and former House Speaker Priyo Budi Santoso, set up a presidium and plan to hold a congress in January.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2014
