Coalition Party Leaders Discuss Election Bill, Dasco: Only Brainstorming, No Final Decision Yet

The Executive Chairman of the Gerindra Party, Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, emphasised that the recent meeting between the leaders of political parties within the coalition supporting President Prabowo Subianto’s government was merely at the stage of initial discussion or brainstorming to prepare for the discussion of the General Election Law revision in the House of Representatives (DPR RI).

Dasco explained that the discussion at the party leadership level has not yet resulted in a final decision, but rather serves as an initial foundation to ensure that the technical discussions of the Election Bill by parliamentary factions can proceed smoothly.

“The meeting of the party chairpersons was just brainstorming regarding the preparations for the discussion of the Election Law that will be carried out by the factions in the DPR. This brainstorming is only in its early stages and will continue so that the discussions by the factions in the DPR can proceed smoothly,” said Dasco at the Parliament Complex, Senayan, Central Jakarta, on Thursday (17/9).

Regarding the issue of the 5 per cent parliamentary threshold, which was previously mentioned by Gerindra Party Secretary-General Sugiono, Dasco noted that this percentage was one of the points that emerged during the initial discussion sessions.

He underlined that the agreement on the threshold figure is still in progress and is awaiting the results of public aspirations gathered by the DPR RI.

“Since this is brainstorming, there has been no determination yet. Therefore, the results of those discussions are, among other things, as conveyed by Mr Sugiono. Meanwhile, we from the parties are also waiting for the results of public participation from Commission II of the DPR, which is requesting input from the community,” he explained.

The Deputy Speaker of the DPR RI added that follow-up meetings between political party leaders are certain to be held again as the legislative process for the Election Bill progresses in parliament.

“The discussions will certainly be long. Naturally, there will continue to be further brainstorming sessions following the dynamics that arise during the upcoming discussions,” Dasco concluded.