DPR Threshold Hard to Lower, PSI: We Will Press Ahead to Win Seats in 2029

JAKARTA — Ahmad Ali, the acting chairman of the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI), says the party will continue to strive to qualify for the DPR in 2029, even though lowering the parliamentary threshold from 4 percent remains difficult. Ali noted there is no turning back for PSI, which has never entered the DPR since its founding in 2014.

‘Whatever the conditions, whatever the requirements, there is no longer any path for us to retreat. We will surely press on toward contesting in 2029, and ensure that PSI enters Parliament as one of the parties,’ Ali told Kompas.com on Thursday, 5 March 2026.

Ali said PSI would be more adaptable to rules set by the government and the DPR. Consequently, he does not see the benefit of the parliamentary threshold for the 2029 elections.

‘In the Constitutional Court ruling, it is also stated that the right to nominate a presidential candidate is not a right of the party that has seats in parliament,’ he explained. ‘If so, what is the point, what is the use of restricting the parliamentary threshold?’ he added.

‘Like yesterday, the PPP had 12 seats, which were enjoyed by certain parties such as PDIP, NasDem, and others. Yet the public did not vote for PDIP or NasDem. As a result, because PSI did not pass, how many seats did it have yesterday? And PPP did not pass because its party did not reach 4 percent, meaning the millions of votes entrusted to PPP were wasted,’ he said.

Ali also suggested that only one or two party leaders remain ego-driven in insisting on the parliamentary threshold. He said other party leaders are statesmen, aware that building the nation must be done together. ‘But for PSI, at this point, PSI does not have the right to vote. Since PSI is not yet in parliament, we do not have the right to debate approval or rejection,’ he added.

The debate over changing the parliamentary threshold has resurfaced alongside plans by the DPR to revise the Election Law.