PAN Objects to Parliamentary Threshold Increase Exceeding 4 Per Cent

The National Mandate Party (PAN) has expressed its objection if the parliamentary threshold is raised by more than 4 per cent.

Vice Chairman of the PAN Central Executive Board, Viva Yoga Mauladi, stated that the party’s objection is not due to a fear of failing to meet the threshold. “PAN objects if the Parliamentary Threshold (PT) rises above 4 per cent. PAN’s stance is not because we are worried about failing to secure seats in the DPR RI, as PAN has proven to consistently pass into Senayan from the 1999 to 2024 elections,” Viva said when contacted on Thursday (17/9).

According to him, if the threshold value is increased further, it would tend to contradict the Constitutional Court Decision Number 116/PUU-XXI/2023. He noted that the Constitutional Court ruling provides a conditional constitutional mandate to lawmakers to implement changes before the 2029 General Election.

“This means that lawmakers are indeed given legislative space as it is an open legal policy. However, that space exists within the constitutional boundaries set by the Constitutional Court; it is not a blank cheque. It is not a free space based on the subjective considerations of political parties,” said Viva.

He added that the Constitutional Court requires that any changes to the threshold be made while considering several vital aspects. These include political representation, proportionality, popular sovereignty, electoral fairness, ensuring that a large number of valid votes are not wasted or fail to be converted into seats, and the rational simplification of political parties.

In election theory, he noted, the higher the parliamentary threshold, the greater the tendency for valid votes to fail to be converted into seats. “This is exacerbated by the fact that as more participating parties fail to meet the PT, the number of valid votes that are ‘lost at sea’ because they cannot be converted into seats will increase,” he said.

He argued that under such conditions, the election would suffer from high disproportionality, thereby lowering the value of democratic representation. “The Constitutional Court itself, in Decision 45/PUU-XXII/2024, stated that determining the PT size without adequate methods and arguments can lead to disproportionality between the national valid votes and the number of seats,” he said.

Furthermore, Viva argued that there is no ideal value for the threshold. What matters, he said, is that the Constitutional Court mandates changes to the threshold on the condition that they remain within the framework of maintaining the proportionality of the proportional election system, particularly to prevent a large number of votes from being unable to be converted into DPR seats.

He emphasised that the idea of simplifying political parties in the DPR must not clash with the necessity of maintaining the principle of proportionality in election results. “The PT must not be raised solely to produce fewer parties in the DPR if the consequence is increased disproportionality and a higher number of valid votes that are not converted,” he stated.

The Secretary-General of the Gerindra Party, Sugiono, previously confirmed a meeting between party chairpersons to discuss several points in the Election Bill. However, Sugiono noted that the meeting was only attended by chairpersons of coalition parties.

“So, yesterday, several party chairpersons gathered. Gerindra was represented by Mr Dasco, acting as the Daily Chairman,” Sugiono said at the parliamentary complex on Tuesday (16/5). “From what I know so far, it was the chairpersons of the government coalition parties,” he added.

According to Sugiono, the result of the meeting included an agreement to change the parliamentary threshold (PT) from 4 per cent to 5 per cent. However, Sugiono declined to represent the stance of other parties.

“One thing that seems to be agreed upon by all, though I cannot speak on behalf of other parties. But Gerindra also agrees with a 5 per cent PT. As was also expressed by Golkar and PKS yesterday, I believe that is what we have agreed upon,” he said.