People's Movement Proposes Zero Per Cent Parliamentary Threshold to Prevent Wasted Votes

Jakarta – Gerakan Rakyat (People’s Movement) chairman Sahrin Hamid has proposed changing the parliamentary threshold to zero per cent to ensure no voter votes are wasted in elections.

Sahrin stated that every vote cast by citizens must be convertible into parliamentary seats. “We do not want even a single vote from the elections conducted by the people to be wasted,” Sahrin said during the first anniversary celebration of Gerakan Rakyat on Friday, 27 February 2026.

“And this means that when the people exercise their rights, we want all votes to be converted into seats. Therefore, given that the presidential threshold is now zero per cent, Gerakan Rakyat also advocates that the parliamentary threshold should also be zero per cent,” he added.

Sahrin believes that simplification of political parties can still be achieved without implementing a parliamentary threshold. “Even if simplification is built, that simplification should be done at the faction level. In fact, it is the faction threshold that should be established. We have done this before and I believe it can achieve balance and what has been possible so far,” Sahrin said.

He noted that this arrangement is not new, as it has already been practised in several regions. “And I believe regions have already practised this. So this is nothing new,” he said.

Various political parties hold differing views regarding the parliamentary threshold to be proposed in revisions to electoral law, ranging from abolishing it entirely to maintaining it or changing its percentage.

The Democratic Party, for instance, has proposed raising the parliamentary threshold to seven per cent. However, this proposal has been deemed too high by several other parties.