Small parties want House drop electoral threshold

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Struggling small parties have agreed to join forces in pushing for the House of Representatives to revoke the electoral threshold ruling, which would prevent them from participating the 2004 general election.

Executives of 15 parties said in a joint statement issued to wrap up meeting they held over the weekend here that the regulation had created unfair competition among political parties, noting that the small parties were just newcomers to the game.

"An injustice is taking place in the country, and we are afraid that the public's disappointment with the system will result in social unrest which will only hurt the people," the joint statement said.

Attending the five-hour closed-door meeting were, among others, chairman of the Justice and Unity Party Gen. (ret) Edi Sudrajat, chairman of the Justice Party Hidayat Nur Wahid, Nahdlatul Ummat Party chairman Syukron Makmun and Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) chairman Budi Hardjono,

According to the prevailing elections law, which was passed in 1999, a political party which failed to win at least two percent of the total vote in the 1999 general election would be barred from running in the 2004 election.

They would be allowed to contest the upcoming election only if they merged and formed new parties so as to fulfill the minimum vote requirement.

A party would have to dissolve itself if it were to merge with another, according to the text of the latest electoral law bill.

Under the terms of the new bill, the requirements will be even stricter for the 2009 poll as the electoral threshold is being increased to three percent.

The bill will soon be submitted to the House for deliberation.

Meanwhile, Aqil Muchtar of the Golkar Party supported the requirement, saying that it was an effective mechanism for ensuring natural selection among the country's political parties.

Aqil further said that the requirement was compatable with democracy in the country, arguing that "it is impossible to hold a general election by involving hundreds of political parties that lack the support of the public."

"If it turns out that the (small) parties fail to keep up with the other parties due to a lack of public support, why should they insist on maintaining their old political organizations for the next general election?" Aqil asked.

"I believe that a merger of the parties would provide them with more opportunities," Aqil said, adding that Golkar was open to mergers with smaller parties, particularly those with the same ideology and loyalty to the principle of the unitary state.