The PDP resorts to a "zoning" system that prescribes that presidential terms should rotate between the Muslim north and Christian south every two terms and Jonathan would need the full support of his party to contest the general elections.

Jonathan, from the southern Niger Delta, inherited the presidency when northern President Umaru Yar'Adua died this year part way through his first term.

"We did not envisage that our dear president (Yar'Adua) would die in office," PDP chairman Okwesilieze Nwodo told reporters ahead of a meeting of senior party officials with Jonathan in the capital Abuja.

"The party believes that Dr Goodluck Jonathan as part and parcel of the joint ticket has the right to contest the presidential primaries for the 2010 elections, but this would not preclude anyone in the party from contesting," Nwodo said.

A bid by Jonathan could lead to protests from some factions in the north, but his failure to stand could cause unrest in the Niger Delta, the heartland of Africa's biggest oil and gas industry, and threaten a year-old amnesty for militants.