Analyst: 7 Per Cent Parliamentary Threshold Could Prevent Transactional Politics
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Executive Director of Indonesia Political Review Iwan Setiawan has assessed that the proposed 7 per cent parliamentary threshold could prevent transactional politics from occurring.
“As such, it could also reduce the potential for transactional politics, because with fewer parties, the opportunity for horse-trading over seats can be suppressed,” he said when contacted by ANTARA in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Iwan also explained that another positive impact would be enabling the government to avoid bloated coalitions, with decision-making processes tending to be faster and more efficient.
“The coalition would not be too bloated or comprise too many parties, and the decision-making process would be faster and more effective,” he said.
Furthermore, he said, it could stabilise the political system so that it is not overly fragmented.
“Indeed, if the parliamentary threshold is high, the political system can be more stable and less fragmented. The positive impact is that it facilitates the formation of government,” he said.
Nevertheless, Iwan cautioned that if the parliamentary threshold is set too high, it could also reduce the representation of the people’s voice.
“If the parliamentary threshold is too high, what happens is that it could reduce the representation of the people’s voice, because many voters’ ballots would simply evaporate or be wasted if the party they chose does not reach 7 per cent of valid votes nationally,” he said.
He also expressed concern that the proposal would only benefit the dominance of large parties.
“It becomes increasingly entrenched because an excessively high parliamentary threshold will systemically benefit large and established parties,” he said.
Previously, the NasDem Party proposed that the parliamentary threshold be raised to 7 per cent. This has consistently been the position of NasDem Party elites and has not changed to date.
Both NasDem Party General Chairman Surya Paloh and Deputy General Chairman Saan Mustopa stated that NasDem has always proposed raising the figure to 7 per cent for inclusion in the revision of the Elections Law.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chairman of House of Representatives Commission II Zulfikar Arse revealed that deliberations on the revision or Bill on Elections would begin rolling in 2026 after the House Legislative Body decided to include the bill in the 2026 National Legislation Programme.
The Constitutional Court on 29 February 2024 partially granted a judicial review petition filed by the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) against Article 414 paragraph (1) of Law Number 7 of 2017 on General Elections. The ruling was registered under number 116/PUU-XXI/2023.
In that ruling, the Constitutional Court found no rational basis for determining the figure or percentage of the parliamentary threshold at a minimum of four per cent as previously stipulated in Article 414 paragraph (1) of the Elections Law. The Court therefore requested that lawmakers promptly amend the parliamentary threshold provisions before the conduct of the 2029 general elections.