Bestari Barus: PSI Not Afraid of 5 Per Cent Parliamentary Threshold
The Chairperson of the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) DPP, Bestari Barusc, stated that the 5 per cent parliamentary threshold (PT) is not a frightening figure for his party.
Bestari mentioned that PSI is optimistic, referring to results from internal surveys and the Centre for Strategic and Global Studies (SMRC). According to the SMRC survey, PSI’s electability stands at 4.1 per cent. Regarding internal surveys, Bestari did not disclose the party’s specific electability figures.
“The 4.1 per cent figure is from Saiful Mujani’s latest data. As for internal data, only those within the party know, but I believe 5 per cent is not a frightening number for PSI,” said Bestari when contacted on Thursday (17/9).
Bestari stated that, similar to other non-parliamentary parties, PSI will comply with whatever the threshold value may be. However, he questioned the mechanism of the discussions that led to the agreement on the 5 per cent figure by several political parties.
“However, our note is that we do not know what mechanism or what kind of discussion took place that was subsequently released to the media agreeing on the 5 per cent figure. We do not know that, but the Constitutional Court’s recommendation invites non-parliamentary parties to participate in the discussion,” he said.
Bestari noted that the Constitutional Court (MK) has also signalled that law-makers should not create regulations that prevent voters’ voices from being converted into parliamentary seats.
“It will certainly be a major question: if it increases, what is the reason for the increase? Is not the law made for the benefit of the public? What is the benefit of moving from 4 per cent to 5 per cent?” he asked.
Bestari argued that if the goal is to simplify the number of parties in parliament, it should not be achieved by raising the threshold.
“Simplification should not be achieved by increasing the threshold. What should be simplified are the requirements for forming parliamentary factions; they could be individual or combined,” he said.
He reiterated that PSI does not object to the 5 per cent figure. However, he reminded that in the last two elections, many voters’ voices were not converted into seats in the DPR due to the 4 per cent parliamentary threshold rule.
“In principle, PSI has no problem with that figure. However, during these two periods, many votes were not converted into seats. All parties should be invited to talk again,” he said.
The Secretary-General of the Gerindra Party, Sugiono, previously confirmed a meeting between party chairpersons to discuss several points in the Election Bill. However, Sugiono noted that the meeting was only attended by the chairpersons of coalition parties.
According to Sugiono, the results of the meeting included an agreement to change the parliamentary threshold (PT) from 4 to 5 per cent. However, Sugiono declined to represent the stance of other parties.
“One thing that seems to be agreed upon, though I cannot speak on behalf of other parties, is that Gerindra also agrees with the 5 per cent PT. As was also conveyed by Golkar and PKS yesterday, I believe that is what we have agreed upon,” he said.