GKSR argues 5 per cent parliamentary threshold should be avoided
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The People’s Voice Sovereignty Movement (GKSR) believes that a 5 per cent parliamentary threshold (PT) should be avoided, as it has the potential to increase the number of valid votes that are not converted into seats in the House of Representatives (DPR).
GKSR Chairperson Said Iqbal stated that the Constitutional Court (MK) Decision Number 116/PUU-XXI/2023 needs to be read fully and carefully, particularly regarding the new interpretation of parliamentary threshold regulations.
“The intention of the MK decision is actually to encourage lawmakers not to implement PT rules. If they still wish to implement them, then the PT figure must be reduced,” Said said in a statement in Jakarta on Friday.
According to Said, the ruling of the MK, which orders lawmakers to amend the norms and the magnitude of the PT, allows for the rule to be abolished or its calculation formula to be changed.
“Because the order is to change the norm, then in the new norm, the PT formulation can be negated, moving from the existence of a PT to no PT. By making such a change to the norm, lawmakers can be considered to have fulfilled the MK’s mandate,” he said.
GKSR has offered three options regarding the regulation of the parliamentary threshold.
First, to abolish the PT rule. Second, to change the basis of the PT calculation from the total national valid votes to the total valid votes of political parties in each electoral district (dapil).
GKSR also proposed a third option: if the PT rule remains based on the total national valid votes of political parties, then the PT figure should be set at 1 per cent.
An alternative change to the norm could also be implemented by lawmakers by changing the PT calculation formula, from being based on the “total national valid votes” to being based on the “total valid votes in each electoral district.”
“This means that in the new norm, the PT figure will no longer be calculated based on the national valid vote share of a political party, but will be calculated based on the number of valid votes of a political party in each electoral district,” said Said.
According to him, a PT rule based on valid votes in each electoral district is fairer than a PT calculated based on national valid votes.
This is because, Said continued, the election of people’s representatives in an electoral district is not influenced or limited by the vote share of a political party in other electoral districts.
“If the calculation is based on national valid votes, then even if a candidate chosen by voters wins in an electoral district, that candidate will still fail to represent the voters because the party’s votes did not reach the PT magnitude nationally,” he said.
If lawmakers change the parliamentary threshold norm by setting the PT based on the number of valid votes in each electoral district, the PT figure could be set at around 3.5 per cent.
“That is a sufficiently moderate figure. This means that if a political party’s vote share in an electoral district is less than 3.5 per cent, that party will not be included in the determination of DPR seats,” said Said.
Meanwhile, if the PT rule is to remain based on the calculation of national valid votes, the MK has established five mandatory requirements for lawmakers to follow. These include ensuring that changes to the PT magnitude maintain the proportionality of election results, preventing a large number of wasted votes (votes that cannot be converted into DPR seats), and ensuring that changes involve non-parliamentary political parties.
Regarding the three options above, GKSR will soon submit a draft proposal for the revision of the Election Law to the DPR and the government.
“We are confident that GKSR’s input will be seriously considered by lawmakers, in accordance with the Constitutional Court’s order to ensure that the principle of meaningful participation is met, including by involving political parties participating in the election that do not have representation in the DPR,” said Said.