PSI on NasDem's Proposal for DPRD Threshold: There Might Be Hidden Intentions

PSI Deputy Chairman for Politics Bestari Barus has responded to the National Democratic Party (NasDem)’s proposal regarding the introduction of a parliamentary threshold for DPRDs at the provincial and regency or city levels. PSI believes there may be hidden intentions from NasDem to favour certain parties.

“That means, a mere proposal as a discourse is perfectly fine. After all, it’s just a suggestion. However, the parties, in this case the political parties already in the DPRD, will certainly calculate it carefully,” Bestari told reporters on Friday (24/4/2026).

Bestari assesses that there is a hidden intention from NasDem to eliminate other political parties. Bestari highlights the voices of the people that would be lost if this is implemented.

“Most likely, there are hidden intentions like that, to sideline fellow contestants, to return to a position of representation,” Bestari stated.

“We have spoken a lot recently about how regrettable it is when one or two figures in a political party who carry the aspirations of the community in the area where they were nominated fail to pass the threshold, resulting in the community being unrepresented. Is this what NasDem wants?” he added.

In addition, Bestari emphasised that if the DPRD threshold proposal is merely discourse, it is reasonable. Nevertheless, Bestari asked the public to be vigilant about the proposal that has recently emerged in public.

“Well, I think this should also serve as a warning to the public to be wary of political parties with bad intentions. Those who want to eliminate the public’s right to be represented by the people they trust,” he added.

As is known, the Chairman of Commission II of the DPR from NasDem, Rifqinizamy Karsayuda, proposed a parliamentary threshold for DPRDs at the provincial and regency or city levels. So far, the allocation of DPRD seats has been done without a threshold; parties whose national vote is below 4 percent can still obtain legislative seats in the regions.

“The reason is that with the parliamentary threshold, there will be institutionalisation or institutional strengthening of political parties. The institutionalisation of political parties is reflected in the strength of the party’s structural roots and the significance of the party’s votes in elections,” Rifqinizamy said.

“Therefore, the second point, we propose that the parliamentary threshold applies not only at the national level, but also at the provincial, regency, and city levels. There are several formulas that we can provide for this parliamentary threshold,” he continued.