President Yudhoyono's Democrat Party Ready to Support New Government

Jakarta (Antara) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democrat Party will support the new government of president-elect Joko Widodo if it was willing to continue the president's programs, a party official said here on Wednesday. "The important condition is that the president-elect should continue SBY's programs that had been carried out in the last ten years, which I hope he will, and if he does the Democrat Party will certainly provide full support," Sjarifuddin Hasan, the Democrat Party's executive chairman, said. The General Elections Commission on Tuesday evening had declared Joko Widodo-Jusuf Kalla pair as the winner of the July 9 presidential race against their rival Prabowo Subianto-Hatta Rajasa duo. Hassan said the Democrat Party earnestly hoped that the new government could carry out its tasks and the people's mandate well and "continue SBY's programs as these are people-oriented." "If the new government is effective, we will certainly support it, but if it is not, we will remind it and help," he said. He pointed out that if the new government's programs are similar to those of SBY's and beneficial to the people, the Democrat Party will choose not to become an opposition party. He said the new government basically had a large capital because a lot of achievements have been made by SBY over the last ten years. He said the Democrat Party so far had not yet proposed any cabinet member. "Everything will be executed according to procedure. We will not propose names for ministerial posts, but if we are requested to, we will do so only after discussing with the party's general chairman (Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono)," he added. The Democrat Party was one of the political parties that had supported the Prabowo-Hatta pair.