Mahfud MD, the former Constitutional Court chief justice, has said he will not participate in the Democratic Party’s upcoming convention to determine its candidate for the 2014 presidential election.
“I have decided not to join,” he said at a press conference on Thursday.
Mahfud arrived at the offices of the committee’s secretariat with the initial intention of attending a pre-convention event, he said, but changed his mind and decided to withdraw from the convention.
He said he was not convinced that the party would support the winner of the convention as its actual candidate.
“I have only heard promises, none of them in writing, while the party’s regulations mention a mechanism for the convention that could be different from the promises I’ve heard,” he said.
Mahfud considered input from his close friends and religious leaders from Nahdlatul Ulama, who recommended that he abstained from attendance.
Several names have received substantial attention in the run-up to the convention: former Army Chief of Staff Gen. Pramono Edhie Wibowo, Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan Paramadina and Paramadina University President Anies Baswedan. The convention will cost an estimated Rp 40 billion ($3.6 million).
by:SP/Carlos Paath
source:http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/mahfud-md-bows-out-of-democratic-party-convention/
