Expert views parliamentary threshold for DPR commissions as a rational idea
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Lecturer in Electoral Law from the Constitutional Law Study Programme at the University of Indonesia, Titi Anggraini, views the proposal to determine the parliamentary threshold in line with the number of commissions in the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia (DPR RI) as a relevant and rational idea.
Titi, when contacted by ANTARA in Jakarta on Friday, said the logic of this idea leads to the conclusion that there is no need to maintain the 4% parliamentary threshold.
“In essence, linking the threshold to the institutional needs of the DPR is something rational and relevant, but from that logic, the more appropriate conclusion is that we actually no longer need to maintain the parliamentary threshold,” she said.
By setting a minimum number of seats according to the number of commissions in parliament, she stated, it can enhance legislative political work in the form of factions.
According to her, improving the effectiveness of parliamentary work itself can use the faction threshold instrument, not the parliamentary threshold which sacrifices much political representation.
“What determines whether the DPR can work effectively is not how many parties enter, but how political work is organised within factions,” Titi said.
Furthermore, Titi explained that the main working units in parliament for legislative, oversight, and budgeting functions are carried out through factions, so threshold regulations should be directed towards forming effective factions.
She revealed that parties that do not meet the faction formation threshold can still have seats in parliament as voter representation, but join existing factions.
“This maintains a balance between representation and effectiveness. This approach is also not new. At the DPRD level, the faction threshold mechanism has long been implemented. That practice shows that institutional effectiveness can be achieved without sacrificing representation rights through the parliamentary threshold,” she stated.
“This is more consistent theoretically, fairer representationally, and more relevant for strengthening parliamentary performance,” she explained.
Previously, the Coordinating Minister for Law, Human Rights, Immigration, and Correctional Services, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, proposed that the number of commissions in the DPR RI be used as the threshold for political parties participating in legislative elections to sit in parliament and form factions.
He explained that the intention of the number of commissions means that each political party must obtain at least 13 seats in the DPR RI because there are currently 13 commissions in the DPR RI.
“For example, what is used as a reference is actually how many commissions there are in the DPR. That is now regulated in the rules of procedure, it should be regulated in the Law,” Yusril said after attending the Technical Guidance for DPRD Members in Jakarta on Wednesday (29/4).