[6] Other individuals interested in becoming presidential candidates included former President Abdurrahman Wahid,[7] former People's Representative Council (DPR) Speaker Akbar Tandjung,[8] Yogyakarta Sultan Hamengkubuwana X,[9] and former Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso.

Under the 2008 Presidential Election Law, the candidates must be nominated by a party or coalition that won at least 25% of the popular vote or 112 (20%) of 560 seats of the DPR.

However, talks were broken off on 13 April 2009, with Golkar reportedly more interested in continuing the coalition with Yudhoyono rather than risk being cut off from power completely.

Yudhoyono was also in talks with Islamist parties in a bid to form a coalition controlling more than half the seats in parliament.

[15][16][17] By late April 2009, Golkar was in talks with smaller parties to gain the votes it lacked to be able to nominate Kalla as a presidential candidate.

[21] The possibility of Gerindra leader Prabowo Subianto becoming Megawati's running mate had been favoured by PDI-P leadership, but the two parties had yet to come to an agreement two days before the 16 May candidate registration deadline.

[27][28] The remaining three parties eventually agreed to support the Yudhoyono–Boediono ticket and attended the nomination ceremony in Bandung on 15 May.

[34] Initially, the pair of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Boediono was referred to colloquially by the Indonesian media as SBY Berbudi.

[33] Three days after the slogan was announced, the campaign team had changed its name to SBY–Boediono due to concerns that the term berbudi was not as well known outside Java.

Those participating in the campaign were not allowed to question the basis of the Indonesian state, insult the race or religion of candidates, use threats or violence or give financial or material incentives to voters.

The topics for these two-hour debates were agreed in advance, and by common consent, did not explicitly include human rights issues.