Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly (left) and Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo (right) receive a document at a working meeting of the Special Committee on the Implementation of General Elections in the House complex in Senayan, Jakarta, on Thursday (13/7).
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The deliberation of crucial issues in the General Elections bill has not ended. The government and the House of Representatives’ special committee on the election bill failed to reach an agreement and submitted the five strategic issues to the House plenary meeting, the legislature’s highest decision-making forum.
The two decision-making mechanisms for the plenary meeting, which will be held on July 20, are deliberative consensus and taking a vote. Within the next week, lobbying groups among political parties will try to form a consensus through deliberation. If it is still unable to reach an agreement, the “one person, one vote” mechanism will be employed.
This was decided in the first round of decision-making between the House special committee on the election bill and the government at the legislative complex in Senayan, Jakarta, Thursday (13/7). "Actually, we hoped for a common stance between the factions and the government. However, there are still differences, so it was agreed to take it to the plenary meeting," said House special committee chairman Lukman Edy.
Crucial issues laden with party interests have led to five delays in the deliberation of the bill within the past month. The five crucial issues are: the legislative electoral system, the presidential nomination threshold, the electoral threshold, the legislative seat allocation per electoral district, and the method of converting votes to House seats.
Remaining tough
Of the five issues, the most difficult is the presidential nomination threshold, which will determine the minimum share of votes or House seats needed for a party or coalition of political parties to field a presidential candidate. The government and 10House factions each have a strong political stance on this issue, and the persistence of the two sides made Thursday’s closed-door lobby tough.
In presenting the government\'s view, Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo asked the House of Representatives twice to retain several points that are currently in effect, such the presidential nomination threshold of 20 percent of seats or 25 percent of the national vote. "The government understands the dynamics of the factions’ viewpoint. However, we emphasize that things that have been good and democratic are at least feasible and worth maintaining," he said.
Of the five packages offered by the special committee, five of the seven parties that support the government voted for Package A, which is backed by the government. The five factions are: the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the Golkar Party, the United Development Party, the Nasdem Party and Hanura.
Package A consists of a presidential nomination threshold of 20 percent of House seats or 25 percent of the vote, an electoral threshold of 4 percent of the vote, an open-list proportional system, an allocation of 3 to 10House seats per electoral district, and the Sainte-Lague method for converting votes to seats.
Two parties of the ruling coalition, the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the National Awakening Party (PKB), take the same stance as opposition parties (Gerindra Party, Democratic Party and Prosperous Justice Party) to reject the package options and suggesting that all crucial issues are decided in the plenary session by voting.
Still divided
Despite their rejection of the special committee’s five package options, PAN and the PKB presented their views on the five crucial issues. Internal lobbying among the ruling parties has been ongoing for months, and PAN and PKB remain separate from the majority.
The differences are particularly evident in the stance on the presidential nomination threshold, the method of converting votes to seats, and the allocation of seats per electoral district. PAN prefers to exclude the presidential nomination threshold or to take the middle ground of 10 percent of seats or 15 percent of the national vote. PAN also prefers the Hare quota conversion method, not the Sainte-Lague.
The PKB was willing to support the government’s presidential nomination threshold, provided that the allocation of seats per electoral district was 3 to 8, not 3 to 10.
"We hope a consensus can be decided by deliberation. If we cannot do that, the five crucial issues will be brought to the plenary meeting to be put to the vote," said special committee member Siti Masrifah from the PKB faction.
United Development Party chairman Romahurmuziy did not deny that the ruling parties’ stance on the election bill was divided. The government hoped that the seven parties of the coalition could take the same political stance on the crucial issues, especially on the presidential nomination threshold.
According to Romahurmuziy, the presidential nomination threshold is closely related to the presidential line of succession. Therefore, it was reasonable for the President to pay close attention and hope for a unified coalition on the issue.
A member of the General Elections Commission, Hasyim Asy’ari, hoped that the decisions taken by the House factions would provide legal certainty to electoral organizers and not be open to multiple interpretations.
