Labour Party Advocates for 0% Parliamentary Threshold: 50 Million Votes Wasted

The Labour Party disagrees with the NasDem party’s proposal to raise the parliamentary threshold to 7 per cent. The Labour Party proposes that the parliamentary threshold be abolished. The President of the Labour Party, Saiq Iqbal, stated that his party agrees with PAN to set the parliamentary threshold at 0 per cent. He believes that this regulation will improve the quality of democracy. “The Labour Party’s view on the parliamentary threshold is that it agrees with PAN’s opinion, which is 0 per cent. There are several reasons why the parliamentary threshold should be 0 per cent. First, the presidential threshold is already 0 per cent for the selection of presidential candidates,” said Said when contacted on Wednesday (24 February 2026). According to him, if the parliamentary threshold is abolished, then no votes will be wasted. He reiterated the point about the presidential threshold, which is already 0 per cent. “Therefore, for a higher quality of democracy and to prevent wasted votes due to the parliamentary threshold, it is reasonable for the parliamentary threshold to also be 0 per cent,” he added. Secondly, Said said that democracy in Indonesia is presidential democracy, where the president is very powerful because he is directly elected by the people, not by parliament. Therefore, he said, a stronger parliament or DPR is also needed. “The third reason is that, based on data held by the Labour Party, by processing data from the 2024 elections, there are 50 to 60 million votes that are wasted due to the 4 per cent parliamentary threshold,” he said. “There should not be a single vote wasted because it does not pass the parliamentary threshold. Therefore, to obtain a strong parliamentary membership and prevent wasted votes, and to balance the current presidential candidates who can be nominated by any participating political party, the parliamentary threshold should also be 0 per cent,” he added. Said’s third reason is that, based on data from the 2024 elections, there are 50 to 60 million votes that are wasted due to the 4 per cent parliamentary threshold. He believes that these millions of wasted votes from the total registered voters are very significant. “This means almost more than 30 to 40 per cent. Therefore, the parliamentary threshold must be abolished, or in other words, the parliamentary threshold should be 0 per cent to avoid wasting data,” he said. Proposal for a 7 Per Cent Parliamentary Threshold Previously, the Chairman of NasDem, Surya Paloh, stated that NasDem will remain consistent in pushing for the parliamentary threshold to be raised to 7 per cent. Paloh believes that a 7 per cent threshold is much more effective. “I think NasDem should remain consistent on this. Unless there are significant changes. In any case, we, NasDem, believe that, honestly, from a multi-party system, if we can change to a selected party, that would be much more effective. To maintain government stability and also for the implementation of the benefits of the freedom of democracy that we have,” said Surya Paloh at the NasDem Tower, Menteng, Central Jakarta, on Saturday (21 February). Paloh then mentioned the large number of political parties. Paloh questioned what the point of democracy is if it does not bring benefits. “So it can be a reflection for us. We are too happy with the large number of political parties in the name of democracy itself. But on the other hand, what is the point of democracy if it does not bring benefits and consistency in achieving our goals of independence. Ability, effectiveness, rationality, intellectuality, and morality must move much closer to our common goals,” he said. (azh/jbr)