President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono indicated that Democratic Party legislator Angelina Sondakh would be removed from the party, two days after

she was declared a suspect in an ongoing corruption case, but he stood by beleaguered party chairman Anas Urbaningrum, for now.

“Is it true Democratic Party chairman Anas has been made non-active? There is no such action against Anas,” Yudhoyono, the party’s chief of patrons, told a press briefing at his private residence in Cikeas, Bogor, on Sunday.

He said Anas had not been relieved of his duties because he was not a suspect and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) investigation was still under way. “We believe in the presumption of innocence. We can’t move further than the KPK,” Yudhoyono said.

The president said Anas had repeatedly told him he was not guilty in a graft case surrounding the construction of the Southeast Asian Games athletes’ village in Palembang, a case in which both the party’s former treasurer, Muhammad Nazaruddin, and deputy secretary general Angela have been named suspects.

“I believe this [Anas’s statement] unless the KPK decides otherwise later,” he said.

Yudhoyono said all suspects in the case would be removed from the party, implying Angelina would be shown the door.

The scandal threatens to weaken the Democrats’ prospects in the 2014 elections, with a series of surveys indicating that support for the Democrats is falling amid a flurry of negative headlines about the party’s links to the graft case.

A survey of public support by the Indonesia Survey Circle (LSI) published on Sunday showed that the party had fallen to third place behind the Golkar Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) after leading since 2009.

On Friday, Nazaruddin said Anas’s involvement could easily be traced, claiming that the evidence was in the bank accounts of Yulianis, a staffer of the former party treasurer.

Nazaruddin has claimed Anas had received Rp 50 billion ($5.6 million) in kickbacks from a Rp 1.7 trillion project to build a sports stadium in Bogor, as well as Rp 80 billion from a Rp 2.2 trillion deal to build power plants in East Kalimantan and Riau.

Yulianis said while testifying at Nazaruddin’s trial that she had organized the delivery of Rp 30 billion and $5 million to a Democratic Party congress in May 2010. Nazaruddin said the money was meant to help ensure that Anas was elected as party chairman.

Anas defeated Sports Minister Andi Mallarangeng and House of Representatives Speaker Marzuki Alie in the party election.

The KPK said that while declaring Angelina a suspect was a way to develop the case further, it did not mention whether Anas would also be named.

Yudhoyono asked the KPK to swiftly get to the bottom of the graft case to avoid weakening support for the party, “so the Democratic Party does not become a target of attacks like it has in the past eight months.”

Yudhoyono said he did not believe there was a deliberate move by the KPK to prolong the investigation of the case in attempt to damage the party ahead of the 2014 elections.