House may agree soon on elections
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
House of Representatives legislators have moved from a hotel to another to deliberate on the presidential election bill, but no agreement has been reached on some contentious issues.
Leaders of the nine House factions met behind closed doors on Friday, but failed to hammer out a consensus, but did find a "common understanding" of the arguments.
Several legislators involved in the deliberation remained mum about the progress of the debate of the much-awaited bill, which was drafted by the government.
"We have not reached an agreement, but only acknowledge that there is a common understanding on some contentious articles in the bill," legislator Patrialis Akbar of the Reform faction told The Jakarta Post by phone on Sunday.
He and fellow special committee members from other factions were staying at the Horison Hotel, located in the compound of the Ancol recreational area in North Jakarta to continue the deliberations.
Earlier negotiations were held at the Santika Hotel in Central Jakarta as well as the Horison on another occasion.
Patrialis revealed that a consultation meeting of faction leaders on Friday was aimed at resolving the difference in opinions among factions on some issues.
The debate centers on the electoral threshold which requires a political party or a group of parties to possess 20 percent of seats in the House to nominate a presidential candidate.
All factions openly reject the stipulation except for the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), Golkar, and the Indonesian Military/National Police factions. They hold 311 seats in the 500-member House, meaning the article would be passed should the House be forced to a vote on it at present.
Golkar has even proposed raising the threshold to 35 percent while PDI Perjuangan backs the original article.
Another crucial contention deals with the schedule of the presidential election, in which the government, supported by major factions, proposes that it take place after the legislature elections.
Patrialis and Zainal Arifin of the PDI Perjuangan disclosed on Sunday that House factions were very likely to agree on that part.
Patrialis said all factions acknowledged the presidential and the legislative elections were a united agenda. "Although the presidential and the legislative elections are one agenda, they can be organized separately," he said.
Zainal claimed that all factions would agree to have the presidential election held after the legislative election.
Separation of the presidential elections and the legislative elections was aimed at providing time for people to focus on each event, he said.
The government has proposed June 2004 for the presidential election with a second round, if necessary, in August.
Regarding the electoral threshold, Zainal said that all the factions agreed on a decrease in the percentage.
"There are opinions to only require 3 percent," Zainal said.
Patrialis added that the 3 percent benchmark would comply with the electoral threshold in the legislative election and recognize the existence of political parties represented in the House.
He said the Golkar faction eventually reduced its proposal to 15 percent, while PDI Perjuangan faction had shown some intention to accept the 3 percent mark. "This is a good signal," he said.
After the 1999 election only five political parties secured more than 3 percent of seats in the House.
They were PDI Perjuangan (153), Golkar (120), the United Development Party (58), the National Awakening Party (51) and the National Mandate Party (41).