As predicted earlier, K.H. Abdurrahman Wahid, alias Gus Dur, was declared the presidential candidate of the National Awakening Party (PKB) for the 2004 elections. That was the recommendation of the PKB's National Working Convention (Mukernas) held at Hotel Santika in Jakarta on May 27-29.

A.S. Hikam, a former minister during the Gus Dur era who chaired the convention, said the decision to select Gus Dur was inevitable because all the regions