Mahfud not Concerned with Declaration of Other Nominee

Bojonegoro, East Java (Antara) - Former chief justice Mahfud MD has said that he is not concerned with the declaration of other nominees for presidential candidates for the election in July this year. He said after the inauguration of the board of the Nahdlatul Ulama Bojonegoro district chapter for 2013-2018 here on Sunday that the declaration of more nominees would even help boost the party's collection of votes in the legislative elections on April 9. "The more the candidates it nominates the bigger the chance would be for PKB to win votes in the 2014 general elections," he said. He said he had even said to PKB that he did not want to be a sole candidate that had asked the party to nominate more like what it had done by choosing noted singer Roam Irama. "I was the one who has asked PKB to name Oma Irama as its presidential candidate so that I will not become the sole candidate," he said. PKB, the National Awakening Party, has recently declared former vice president Jusuf Kalla as the party's other nominee for presidential candidate. Mahfud said he did not bother about the declaration of Jusuf Kalla as the party's nominee saying that the final decision would be made later in the congress. Referring to Oma Irama he said that Oma's popularity is much better than his, even reaching 99 percent but in terms of electability "I win. Everybody knows Oma but they would not automatically vote for him." Mahfud said he has decided to run for president through the party because he used to be a board member of the party. "I have so far kept conducting political communications with PKB," he added. When asked on parties he would later ask for a coalition he said he did not know yet because it would all depend upon the results of the legislative elections. "I will run for president and not a vice president. Coalition will only be determined later after the legislative elections are done," he added. (*) reporting by slamet agus sudarmojo