Legislator optimistic House will set threshold

A National Mandate Party (PAN) legislator says he remains convinced that political parties will soon have the final figure of the legislative threshold that will be enforced in the upcoming general elections.

"I believe that we will finally have consensus by next week," Teguh Juwarno of the House's security commission said on Thursday.

He added that the House should set the number and finish the general elections organization bill deliberation soon.

"We should have learned from the previous messy general elections organization," he said.

The Golkar Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) have insisted on a 5 percent legislative threshold, meaning that a party must garner 5 percent of the votes to have a representative in the House.

The Democratic Party, the ruling party in the House, agreed to 4 percent.

The big parties' decision has been strongly opposed by the mid-tier parties, which prefer a 2.5 to 3 percent threshold.

The issue has been debated for months, leaving some doubtful that the House would finish the bill this year as promised.