Nation's Echo Party: Increase in Parliamentary Threshold Will Be Unconstitutional

Jakarta - The Nation’s Echo Party has criticised the idea of increasing the parliamentary threshold as a discourse that could potentially disregard the law. “The discourse on a 5% parliamentary threshold (PT) in the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI) that is currently circulating is a highly unconstitutional discourse,” said the General Chairman of the Nation’s Echo Party, Ahmad Rofiq, to Kompas.com on Monday (4/5/2026). Rofiq also highlighted systematic efforts to limit space for new or mid-sized parties. “Beyond the 5% discourse, why not make the parliamentary threshold 10% right away? Don’t do it halfway,” he sarcastically remarked. The last applicable threshold of 4% in the Election Law was deemed arbitrarily set without reasonable explanation. Constitutional Court Decision 116 does not eliminate the threshold, as can be read from the operative part of the decision. The threshold and the percentage figure are left to the lawmakers to determine a rational threshold with clear and comprehensive study methods,” explained the Constitutional Court spokesperson, Enny Nurbaningsih, in her statement to reporters on Friday (1/3/2024). The determination of a rational parliamentary threshold accompanied by studies aims to curb disproportionality in legislative elections (pileg). Said assessed that the ideal threshold is 6% for the DPR RI, 5% for provincial DPRDs, and 4% for district/city DPRDs. “First, at the national level. Say if the national level is 6%, then at the provincial level 5%, and at the district/city level 4%,” Said said when met at the DPR RI Building on Monday (4/5/2026). Said explained that applying the threshold down to the regional level is important to maintain the effectiveness of legislative institutions, particularly DPRDs.