PKS States 5% Threshold is Reasonable, Proposes Two Ways to Accommodates Wasted Votes

The Head of the Election and Regional Election Victory Field (BP3) of the PKS Central Executive Board, Mardani Ali Sera, has responded to the ongoing discussions regarding the proposed parliamentary threshold (PT). Mardani stated that a 5% threshold is reasonable.

“The considerations for the parliamentary threshold are between representativeness and effective government. A 4% figure would have been sufficient, but since the Constitutional Court annulled it on the grounds that many votes are wasted, new norms need to be established. Therefore, a 5% proposal remains reasonable,” Mardani said when contacted on Friday (18/9/2026).

Mardini believes that Indonesia has experimented enough with various thresholds since the 1998 Reformation. He noted that while the figure is sensible, it must be accompanied by a mechanism to accommodate wasted votes.

“Looking at the six elections held since the 1998 Reformation, we have had enough opportunities to experiment. Thus, the 5% proposal is reasonable, but there must be a mechanism to capture wasted votes,” Mardani added.

The member of Commission III of the House of Representatives (DPR RI) stated that there are two ways to ensure wasted votes are captured. These methods include the 1999 ‘stembus accord’ pattern or a compensation pattern. For context, the ‘stembus accord’ during the 1999 Election was a system of merging leftover votes or vote tallies between political parties to convert them into seats in the legislature.

“The 1999 stembus accord pattern was previously implemented, or a compensation pattern could be used at both the national and constituency levels. Under this, votes from political parties that do not reach the minimum 5% would still receive seat allocations through a compensation route. This allows for the simplification of political parties while ensuring no votes are wasted,” he explained.

Previously, several chairpersons of political parties within the government coalition met to discuss the revision of the Election Law, which includes regulations on the parliamentary threshold.

This meeting of coalition chairpersons was confirmed by the Secretary-General of the Gerindra Party, Sugiono. In his explanation, Sugiono stated that the party chairpersons had met recently.

“Yes, several party chairpersons gathered recently. Gerindra was represented by Mr Dasco, acting as the daily chairman, to discuss matters that need to be addressed regarding the election law,” Sugiono told journalists at the parliamentary complex in Senayan, Jakarta, on Wednesday (16/9).

Sugiono noted that an agreement was reached during the meeting regarding the parliamentary threshold. He mentioned that his party, led by President Prabowo Subianto, agrees with a 5% parliamentary threshold.

“One thing that seems to be agreed upon—though I cannot speak on behalf of other parties—is that Gerindra agrees with a 5% PT. As Golkar and PKS also expressed recently, I believe that is what we have agreed upon,” he concluded.