PKB: Parliamentary Threshold Should Not Eliminate the People's Voice

The National Awakening Party (PKB) has stated that it has not yet set a specific figure for the parliamentary threshold (PT) for the 2029 Legislative Elections, but emphasises the importance of a rational calculation to avoid eliminating legitimate voter voices. “Regarding the PT, we haven’t set a specific number yet, but the mindset and method of calculation is such that the PT should not suppress legitimate voices,” said PKB Deputy Secretary-General M. Hasanuddin Wahid when met at the parliamentary complex in Senayan, Jakarta, on Monday. He stressed that the parliamentary threshold is still necessary to maintain political stability and institutionalise democracy. However, its determination must not ignore the people’s voice as part of sovereignty. “First, it should be oriented towards an accountable political system that does not eliminate popular sovereignty. Second, it should ensure that politics runs better, with quality, and avoids majority tyranny and discrimination against minorities,” he said. Regarding the specific figure, he continued, PKB is flexible as long as there is a rational basis for calculation that is agreed upon collectively. “Four, five, seven percent or whatever it is, there must be reasoning built together. If the reasoning is the same, PKB will certainly agree,” he said. “So it’s not a fixed price of four, five, or seven percent, but we want to build the reasoning first,” he added. In addition, Hasanuddin proposed that the parliamentary threshold should also be applied uniformly down to the regional level to maintain consistency in the party system. “Don’t separate the national and regional thresholds. If you want, make it uniform from top to bottom, just determine what the regional PT is,” he said. Yusril previously proposed that political parties participating in the legislative elections should obtain at least 13 seats according to the number of commissions in the House of Representatives (DPR RI), or form coalitions so that votes are not wasted. “For example, the reference could be how many commissions there are in the DPR. That should be regulated in the law,” said Yusril.