MPR Speaker deems proposed 7 per cent parliamentary threshold too high

Jakarta (ANTARA) — Speaker of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) Ahmad Muzani has assessed that the proposal to raise the parliamentary threshold to 7 per cent is too high for political parties.

“I think 7 per cent is indeed too high, and it would not be easy for political parties to achieve that,” Muzani said in Jakarta on Sunday (22 February).

Nevertheless, he stated that a parliamentary threshold remains necessary as a requirement. According to him, the determination of the future parliamentary threshold will depend on prevailing needs.

“I think it will come down to an agreement among colleagues in the House of Representatives as to how much the parliamentary threshold — currently at 4 per cent — will be raised, but I believe 7 per cent is too high,” he said.

Previously, the NasDem Party proposed that the parliamentary threshold be raised to 7 per cent. This has consistently been the position expressed by NasDem’s senior figures and has not changed to date.

Both NasDem Party Chairman Surya Paloh and Deputy Chairman Saan Mustopa have stated that NasDem has always advocated for the threshold to be raised to 7 per cent for inclusion in the revised Election Law.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chairman of House Commission II Zulfikar Arse revealed that deliberations on the revision of the Election Bill would begin in 2026, after the House’s Legislative Body decided to include the bill in the 2026 National Legislation Programme.

The Constitutional Court on 29 February 2024 partially granted a judicial review petition filed by the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) against Article 414 paragraph (1) of Law Number 7 of 2017 on General Elections. The ruling was registered under number 116/PUU-XXI/2023.

In its decision, the Constitutional Court found no rational basis for setting the parliamentary threshold at a minimum of 4 per cent as previously stipulated in Article 414 paragraph (1) of the Election Law. The Court therefore instructed lawmakers to amend the parliamentary threshold provisions before the 2029 general elections.