Aburizal Bakrie has secured the Golkar party's nomination as its candidate in 2014 Presidential elections, Reuters reported. Bakrie, 65, will be a leading candidate in what is expected to be a tight race to succeed President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is due to step down after two terms in office. "Pleading for guidance from Allah Almighty, the faith to build a more developed Indonesia, a strong will and support from all of you, with humility I officially and openly accept this nomination," Bakrie told a party conference late on Friday in a hotel. Bakrie's nomination had been widely expected. The party's chairman, he is midway through a campaign-style road show across the archipelago nation to introduce himself to voters and test out his formidable financial and organizational muscle. Recent opinion polls show him trailing other possible candidates, including former general Prabowo Subianto and former President Megawati Sukarnoputri, daughter of the country's first president. Golkar is the second largest party in the ruling coalition after Yudhoyono's Democrat Party. Yudhoyono is yet to nominate a candidate. Bakrie said his target is to win the presidency, and a third of the seats in parliament. "The executive and legislative bodies will be connected and led by the same force with the same dream and programme," he said. He also added a "new nationalism doctrine", but will flesh out details of an economic programme at another speech on Sunday.
