Jakarta - Leaders of Indonesia's political parties Monday intensified talks to form alliances for the July presidential election July, as criticism over widespread irregularities in last week's parliamentary polls mounts. The Democratic Party of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the big winner of Thursday's election, is expected to ink a coalition pact with other parties by this weekend.

Final election results are not expected until May, but first counts put the Democrats ahead with about 20 percent of the votes.

"We are looking for a firm coalition, both in the legislative level as well as in the executive," said Democratic Party chairman Hadi Utomo, who is also Yudhoyono's brother-in-law.

Yudhoyono was scheduled to met Monday with Vice President Jusuf Kalla, whose Golkar Party won around 14 per cent, to discuss a possible joint presidential ticket.

However, politicians from the Muslim-based Prosperous Justice Party who ranked fourth with around 8 per cent, strongly opposed a renewed alliance of Yudhoyono and Kalla.

Former president Megawati Sukarnoputri of the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle met with Bursah Zarnubi of the small Muslim Star Reform Party, which received almost 2 per cent of the vote, to discuss a possible coalition.

Parties, or coalitions of parties, that win at least 20 per cent of seats in the 560-member House, or 25 per cent of the popular vote, may nominate candidates for the July presidential election.

"The trend is that Golkar will have a coalition again with Democratic Party, because the public's voices wanted it like that," Golkar deputy chairman Agung Laksono said. "But for a definite, we still waiting for the party leaders' meeting which will take place on April 23-24."

Kalla has initially expressed readiness to run by himself, but polls put him at less than 5 per cent.

Yudhoyono is a favourite to win in July with his popularity rating above 60 per cent while Megawati comes a distant second.

The Elections Supervisory Body said more than 750 official reports of complaints about irregularities were recorded in the country's third elections since the fall of strongman Suharto in 1998, raising questions about the legitimacy of the vote in some areas.

Gerindra, a populist party led by the former head of the notorious Kopassus special forces, Prabowo Subianto, and the Hanura party of former armed forces chief Wiranto, along with 21 other parties, agreed to compile evidence of alleged irregularities.

"We will not allow democracy to be damaged with irregularities," Wiranto said. "If we have enough evidence, we will not hesitate to pursue the legal process."

Prabowo blamed the government of being responsible for faulty voter lists and urged the issue to be resolved ahead of the July election.

"Otherwise, the presidential election would be merely a joke," Prabowo said. (dpa)