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Minister Wiranto wants quality, not more, candidates in 2019 election
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Security talks – Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto (right) talks with National Intelligence Agency (BIN) head Budi Gunawan (left) before a limited Cabinet meeting at the Presidential Office in Jakarta in this Dec. 29 file photo. (Antara/Widodo S. Jusuf)
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oordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto said Monday that he hoped for fewer presidential candidates in the upcoming general elections, as he preferred quality over quantity.
“It is better to focus on the quality [of presidential candidates] instead of the number [of candidates] running in the election,” Wiranto told the press on the sidelines of a hearing at the House of Representatives.
He said that the number of presidential candidates would determine the complexity of the electoral process. More candidates would mean a more complicated process, he added, arguing that fewer candidates would lead to a healthier democracy.
Wiranto’s statements were issued to support the government’s idea of setting the presidential threshold at between 20 percent and 25 percent. This threshold would compel political parties to form a coalition to secure at least 20 percent of votes in the legislative election so as to be able to nominate a president.
The proposed 25 percent threshold has so far been backed by three parties under President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s government coalition – the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the Golkar Party and the NasDem Party. However many parties have rejected the idea, suggesting a threshold of no greater than 10 percent.
The prolonged debate has hampered the ongoing deliberation of the election bill that will set guidelines for the first-ever simultaneous legislative and presidential elections in 2019. The House special team is expected to make a final decision on the fate of the bill in the evening. (ika)
