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'Threat to democracy': Minor parties lambast plan to raise legislative threshold
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A man casts a ballot during a revote at a polling station in Ciputat, South Tangerang, Banten, in April 2019. (The Jakarta Post/Seto Wardhana)
T
hree political parties that control a small number of seats in the House of Representatives have objected to a plan to increase the legislative threshold for the 2024 elections, arguing that it would undermine the country’s democracy.
Major parties in the House are seeking to raise the requirement to acquire seats in the House from 4 percent of the national vote to 7 percent, in a draft bill dated May 6 to revise the 2017 General Elections Law. The proposal was reportedly first drafted by the Golkar Party, which received the third most votes in the 2019 elections with 12.31 percent, and the NasDem Party, which came fifth with 9.05 percent of the vote.
The Democratic Party, the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the United Development Party (PPP) – the three parties at risk of losing representation in the House in 2024 if a higher threshold is introduced – demand the threshold be maintained at 4 percent.
The three parties said a higher threshold would mean voters would lose political representation and result in millions of votes being worthless.
In the 2019 legislative elections, the Democratic Party secured 10.86 million votes, or 7.77 percent of the vote, while PAN secured 6.84 percent and the PPP 4.52 percent.
“If the threshold is increased, a lot of votes will go to waste,” the Democratic Party’s strategic communication head, Ossy Dermawan, said recently. “The plan will not only undermine people’s political representation, but will also benefit major political parties, as they can use their domination in the House to pursue their own interests.”
PAN lawmaker Guspardi Gaus said that newcomer parties hoping to bring fresh ideas to the legislative body would find it harder to enter the House should the plan be approved. He expressed concern it would double the number of votes that do not result in representation in the House.
