Foes confirm drive to oust Wahid

Supporters of Mr Wahid have threatened a bloodbath

Indonesian Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri and her members of parliament have agreed to push for the impeachment of President Wahid for corruption and incompetence.

A majority of MPs want Megawati to become president

The decision by the PDIP party was taken the day before parliament meets for a vote on whether to officially set impeachment proceedings in motion.

Amid tight security, thousands of Mr Wahid's supporters have been converging on the capital, Jakarta, threatening a bloodbath if the the vote goes ahead.

Many more have gone on the rampage in Mr Wahid's home province of East Java.

Vote 'certain'

The PDIP party holds the largest number of seats in parliament and the BBC's Richard Galpin says its decision appears to be a critical one - removing any doubt that Mrs Megawati is now ready to assume power.

The vice-president would automatically take over from Mr Wahid if he is voted out of office.

Mr Wahid: Warning of chaos

A senior party official said it was now impossible for any compromise to be reached with the president before the impeachment hearing begins in two months time.

The president has offered Mrs Megawati a power-sharing deal, which she appears to have rejected.

PDIP officials said their decision was unaffected by Monday's ruling by Attorney-General Marzuki Darusman that he had found no evidence of presidential involvement in two financial scandals at the centre of the impeachment drive.

Parliamentary speaker Akbar Tanjung said lawmakers also wanted to oust Mr Wahid because of his "performance, attitude and policies".

Bloodbath threat

The vote also comes amid growing threats of violence by Mr Wahid's supporters.

Some 9,000 have already arrived in Jakarta - police were searching trains and confiscating sickles, machetes, bamboo spears and other weapons.

But this appears not to have deterred the protesters who - armed with sticks and punching their fists into the air - held banners reading "If the special session takes place there will be a bloodbath."

Mr Wahid's supporters are defiant

Armoured cars and thousands of troops are guarding the parliament building.

On Monday, President Wahid contemplated declaring a state of emergency so he could dissolve parliament, but senior government ministers, as well as the security forces, refused to support this.

He has now ordered his security minister to restore law and order - an announcement with little meaning says our correspondent, especially as it is Mr Wahid's own supporters who have taken to the streets of East Java for the past two days, attacking offices of opposition organisations.

In the town of Pasuruan a 5,000-strong mob torched two churches. And in the provincial capital, Surabaya, police fired warning shots to disperse a crowd trying to storm the local parliament building.