Vice President Jusuf Kalla has opted to remain silent about the possibility of his joining forces with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for the 2009 presidential election.

Representatives of the Young Generation of Democratic Party (GMD), the youth wing of Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, on Wednesday raised the question in a meeting with Kalla at the vice presidential office.

"We asked Kalla whether he would run with the President but he gave no response," GMD chairman Lucky Sastrawiria said after the meeting.

The Democratic Party will hold a plenary meeting from August 22 to 24 in Jakarta, during which it will officially nominate Yudhoyono and Kalla as presidential and vice presidential candidates for the second time running.

Kalla will open the meeting, with Yudhoyono closing it.

Although nominated by a coalition of minor parties, Yudhoyono and Kalla won the first round of the 2004 presidential election, and went on to win the run-off against incumbent Megawati Soekarnoputri and her running mate, Nahdlatul Ulama chairman Hasyim Muzadi.

Indonesia will hold its second ever direct presidential election in the first week of July 2009, three months after the legislative election.

An amendment to the Constitution requires presidential and vice presidential candidates to be nominated by political parties or a coalition of parties.

The Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDI-P), in a coalition with several other parties, has already named PDI-P chairwoman Megawati as a presidential candidate.

PDI-P controls the second largest number of legislative seats. The largest number is held by the Golkar Party, which kicked off its election campaign on Wednesday.

The ceremony was marked by the release of 2,300 yellow balloons, 23 of them containing coupons with cell phones as prizes, and 230 doves. The figures represent Golkar's number 23 for the legislative election.

"We are determined to heed all campaign rules issued by the General Elections Commission (KPU). We will not organize a general campaign meeting until March 2009," Golkar chairman Kalla said.

He called on Golkar members with state jobs to take leave and report to the KPU if they would wished to be involved in campaigning.

The KPU requires all state officials, including the President, Vice President and ministers, to take leave when campaigning and not use state facilities for campaign purposes.

Despite a series of defeats for Golkar in regional elections, Kalla expressed optimism the party would maintain its winning run in the legislative election.