Indonesia's Golkar to elect leader

The Indonesian leadership would welcome a Kalla win

Indonesia's largest political party is meeting on Thursday on the island resort of Bali to elect its next leader at a critical time in its history.

Incumbent party boss Akbar Tandjung and Indonesia's Vice-President Jusuf Kalla are the main contenders.

Golkar, which has the most number of MPs, is the main opposition party and still wields considerable power.

But the meeting was clouded by reports that traces of the poison arsenic were found in a soup meant for Mr Kalla.

Mr Kalla's security guards are said to have detected the poison.

It is the second suspected case of arsenic in Indonesian politics in recent months.

A prominent human rights activist, Munir, died on a flight to Amsterdam in September.

Time for change

The BBC's Rachel Harvey in Jakarta says a Kalla win would bring the party closer to government and boost its ability to push through its agenda.

For more than three decades Golkar was the political machine which helped to keep former President Suharto in power, she says.

The party's candidate for this year's presidential election failed to make it past the first round, but it is still the largest party in parliament and as such Golkar wields significant influence.

Now in a new twist to the leadership race, Indonesia's vice-president has thrown his hat into the ring.

Officially there are six candidates in the contest to become leader of Indonesia's most powerful political party, but the focus is on the two leading contenders, current leader Mr Tandjung and Mr Kalla.

Mr Tandjung enjoys strong grass roots support and he has won praise for steering the party through the turbulent years which followed the fall of President Suharto.

He also managed to survive a corruption conviction which was overturned on appeal earlier this year.

But the party failed in the presidential contest and some Golkar insiders now feel it is time for a change.

Mr Kalla offers a powerful alternative. Despite his decision to run for vice-president against the official Golkar ticket, Mr Kalla has retained an influential position within the party.

A win for Mr Kalla would swing the party towards the government. That could have a profound impact on the government's ability to implement its programme.

There is a lot more than just the party leadership riding on the outcome of this race.