Said Iqbal Calls for 0% Parliamentary Threshold

Jakarta – Said Iqbal, Chairman of the Secretariat of the People’s Voice Sovereignty Movement (Sekber GKSR), is pushing for the abolition of the parliamentary threshold (PT) from 4% to 0%. The move aims to ensure no votes are wasted in the election.

Iqbal referenced the Constitutional Court’s decision setting the presidential threshold at 0% through Decision No. 62/PUU-XXII/2024. He argued that removing the presidential candidacy threshold allows more diverse national leadership options.

‘If the presidential threshold is set at 0% to allow a wider range of candidates, the same should apply to legislative members, particularly the House of Representatives. Every political party should be electable without wasted votes,’ he said at Sekber GKSR’s office in Jakarta.

Iqbal highlighted that the 2024 election left around 17 million votes unconverted into House of Representatives seats due to failing the parliamentary threshold. He stressed this equates to dozens of potential parliamentary seats.

‘For instance, well-known parties like PPP, an old and significant party, lost 12 seats that could not enter parliament,’ he added.

He further noted that Hanura has 525 regional council members but no representation in Senayan. Similarly, parties such as Perindo, Ummat, Labour, and others have significant representation in regional legislatures (DPRD) but not at the national level.

‘In the regions, their votes are represented, but not nationally. This is what we aim to rectify,’ he stated.

Iqbal added that if a 0% threshold is unfeasible, the most realistic option is lowering it to 1%. He said the proposal has been discussed with experts.

‘This proposal emerged from internal GKSR discussions with Prof. Mahfud MD, Prof. Yusril Ihza Mahendra, Prof. Zainal Arifin Mochtar, Titi Anggraini, and former Constitutional Court Justice Prof. Arief Hidayat,’ he said.

Meanwhile, Hanura’s Deputy Chairman Akhmad Muqowam supported the idea of forming a joint parliamentary faction. He views this as a way to accommodate parties that don’t meet the criteria for forming their own factions.