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The National Mandate Party on Sunday concluded a national coordinating meeting by throwing its support behind party chairman Hatta Rajasa to stand in the 2014 presidential election.

Zulkifli Hasan, deputy chairman of the party known as PAN, said all party chapters at the provincial and district or municipal levels agreed to back Hatta’s candidacy at the Jakarta gathering.

“This is the decision and all cadres are under an obligation to abide by it,” he said after the party meeting had closed.

PAN secretary general Taufik Kurniawan said the party had set up a team to inform all chapters of the party of the result of the meeting, and exhort them to back Hatta’s campaign.

Under the current law on elections, political parties have to receive at least 20 percent of the votes in the legislative elections to be able to name a candidate for the presidency.

Parties can also form a coalition to name a presidential candidates as long as the combined vote total passes the 20 percent threshold. In the last legislative elections, PAN only garnered 6 percent of the vote.

“Now it is time for us to provide a greater contribution,” Taufik said, adding that he was optimistic that with hard work the party would be able to reach a double-digit share of the legislative vote in 2014.

“We now have a figure,” Taufik said, referring to Hatta, who is currently the coordinating minister for the economy. “He is a leading figure.”

Taufik said the party had also agreed to aim to become the third largest party in the 2014 legislative elections.

Following the 2009 elections, PAN is the fifth largest political party behind the Democratic Party, the Golkar Party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).

Hatta himself declined to comment on the support he had received for a presidential candidacy, saying only, “the comment is, first: work, second: work and third: work.”

He said that 2011 was not a political year but a year for work.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, whose son recently married Hatta’s daughter, expressed his thanks for PAN’s contribution and dedication to the country in its role as a member of the ruling coalition.

“Thank you for PAN’s togetherness as one of the parties in support of the government,” Yudhoyono said over the weekend.

During the opening of the PAN meeting, Hatta said the party “has the responsibility to turn the government of SBY-Boediono [Yudhoyono and his vice president] into a success until 2014.”

“We will promote similarities rather than differences, avoid transactional politics and prioritize the interests of the nation,” Hatta said, adding that “consistency is honor.”

The meeting was attended by as many as 1,600 party members from across the nation. It was aimed at synchronizing the members of the party as it moves toward the elections in 2014.

Meanwhile, PAN lawmaker Eko Hendro Purnomo said the party had drawn two more celebrities into its fold. He cited dangdut singer Saiful Jamil and sinetron star Henky Kurniawan.

“They both joined through the National Youth Guard, PAN’s youth wing,” Eko said.

PAN is a moderate Islamist political party whose founder, Amien Rais, was instrumental in the movement that helped force President Suharto from power in 1998. Amien was also the leader of Islamic organization Muhammadiyah from 1995 to 2000.