The two pairs leading the East Java gubernatorial election have started approaching the losing campaign teams in an attempt to grab their support in an election rerun.

According to quick count results, the pair of Soekarwo and Saefullah Yusuf took the lead in Wednesday's election with 26 percent of the vote and their strongest rivals Khofifah Indar Parawansa and Mudjiono trailed with 25 percent.

The other three pairs — Sutjipto-Ridwan Hisjam, Soenaryo-Ali Maschan Moesa, and Achmady-Soehartono — lost the tight race, the quick count results show.

The 2008 Elections Law requires poll authorities to rerun a regional election 60 days after the first election round should the contesting candidates get less than 30 percent of the vote.

The East Java election commission is yet to determine whether to hold a revote as it is still counting the votes.

The Soekarwo camp said it will approach top executives of the National Awakening Party (PKB), the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the Golkar Party, which all stood behind the losing candidates.

A similar step will also be taken by Khofifah to face Soekarwo in the likely election rerun, said her campaign team.

"We will try to embrace all of them to win their support during the revote," Soekarwo's campaign team coordinator Martono said Thursday in Surabaya, East Java.

The Khofifah-Mudjiono pair was endorsed by the United Development Party (PPP) and 11 other minority parties, while Soekarwo-Saefullah ran for the election with backing from the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the Democratic Party.

Airlangga University political expert Mohammad Asfar said the two winning pairs would certainly seek coalitions with the parties that backed the losers and personal alliances with the losing candidates.

For example, the Soekarwo-Saefullah pair will likely set up a "personal coalition" with the Soenaryo-Ali Maschan camp who were endorsed by the Golkar, he added.

This coalition is likely to be based on a "personal relationship" between Soenaryo and Soekarwo, who both used to be senior bureaucrats at the East Java administration, Asfar said.

He said Soekarwo was among Soenaryo's cadres prepared to replace the incumbent East Java governor, Imam Utomo.

"Meanwhile, the Golkar Party that endorsed Soenaryo's candidacy will likely support Khofifah Indar Parawansa. But this prediction could change because both Soekarwo and Khofifah have an equal chance to win the revote," Asfar said.

However, the PDI-P that nominated the Sutjipto-Ridwan Hisjam pair said it was still considering a coalition either with Khofifah or Soekarwo depending on who gives the party greater political benefits.

The coalitions are being planned despite a series of surveys showing that party support is not a key factor for the contesting candidates to win direct local elections.

The fact that Soekarwo and Khofifah will advance to election rerun after defeating the three other pairs despite backing from major parties, has confirmed the survey results.