More Votes Not Represented

KOMPAS/HERU SRI KUMORO

The logos of political parties are displayed at the General Elections Commission (KPU) office, Jakarta, Wednesday (22/1/2020).

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The simplification of political parties in the House of Representatives (DPR) by raising the legislative threshold carries the risk of lost votes or unrepresented voices in the DPR, as was the case in the 2019 general election. This simplification is seen as more effective through the reduced allocation of legislative seats in each constituency.

In a virtual discussion entitled “Whither is the Elections Bill bound for?” held by the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) on Sunday (7/6/2020), Deputy Director of Perludem Khoirunnisa Nur Agustyati cautioned that the increase in legislative threshold to 7 percent had the potential of resulting in lost votes or unrepresented voices in the DPR.

Besides Khoirunnisa, the discussion was also attended by a resource person from the Political Research Center of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), M. Nurhasim, and deputy chairman of Commission II of the DPR from the NasDem Party faction, Saan Mustopa.

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For comparison, in the 2019 general election, the vote gain threshold of political parties in order to determine the seats secured in the DPR known as the legislative threshold was 4 percent of national votes. As a result of the rule, seven political parties failed to pass. In fact, the total number of votes cast by electors for the seven parties based on data from the General Elections Commission was around 13.5 million. More than 10 million votes were thus practically unaccounted for.

In this way, Khoirunnisa continued, a lot more votes would imaginably have the potential to get lost if the legislative threshold increase to 7 percent was approved.

As previously reported, the legislative threshold increase to 7 percent is contained in the General Elections Bill drafted by expert personnel of Commission II of the DPR and the DPR Expert Board. The draft is not yet final as it has not yet gone through an inter-faction debate in the DPR as well as an internal discussion by Commission II members.

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Kompas

Officers from the Karawaci Subdistrict Election Committee check the ballots of the 2014 Presidential Election in Karawaci, Tangerang, Banten, Monday (30/6/2014).

Apart from the potential of losing representation in the DPR, she saw the threshold increase as likely to make political parties focus more on garnering votes for their respective parties. The presidential election held simultaneously with legislative elections would not be prioritized by political parties.

“Actually, the aim of simultaneous presidential and legislative elections is to create synchrony so that there’s a coattail effect in the election of the president on legislators,” she said.

Instead of raising the legislative threshold, according to Khoirunnisa, reducing the allocation of DPR seats in each constituency is far more effective for the simplification of political parties in the DPR.

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In the draft general elections bill, the number of seats in each constituency is already reduced to 3-8 from the previous general elections’ 3-10 seats.

Nurhasim shared her view. The legislative threshold of 4 percent was described as relatively adequate to represent the political plurality of society and the ideological grouping today. Therefore, there’s no need to raise the rate.

Regarding the number of seats in each constituency, he saw the total stipulated in the Elections Bill as unable yet to simplify political parties in the DPR. It was because he noticed nine political parties in the DPR currently having the chance to secure seats.

“If the constituency is allotted 3-8 seats, all the 9 political parties can still get them. But if the number is reduced to 3-7, only 8-9 parties are likely to get the seats, while any further reduction to 3-6 will leave only 7-8 parties,” he said.

KOMPAS/WAWAN H PRABOWO

Rows of flags of political parties participating in the 2019 Simultaneous General Elections adorn an overpass in the Senayan area, Jakarta, Sunday (7/4/2019).

Golkar and NasDem

According to Mustopa, the legislative threshold value of 7 percent in the Elections Bill is not yet final. Factions still maintain different viewpoints. Among the nine factions in the DPR, he indicated, only Golkar Party and NasDem factions had approved the 7 percent threshold. It was for the reason of simplifying the DPR’s political parties so as to be able to strengthen the presidential system.

The other factions, such as those of the National Mandate Party (PAN), Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and United Development Party (PPP), want the legislative threshold to remain 4 percent.

It’s unlike the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) faction, which strives to apply national threshold values not only to determine DPR seats, but also those of provincial and regency/city legislative councils (DPRD). For the DPR, the PDI-P proposes the threshold of 5 percent, for provinces 4 percent and for regencies/cities 3 percent.

Let’s see where the concord will be achieved.

”The debate will certainly go through its dynamics and I’m convinced there will be a point of agreement. Let’s see where the concord will be achieved,” added Saan.

However, while tinkering with the legislative threshold rates, he also observed that reducing the number of seats in each constituency could be a solution to the DPR’s political party simplification. For this reason, the matter will also be examined by the DPR in its debate on the Elections Bill.

Separately contacted, DPR Commission II Deputy Chairman from the PDI-P faction, Arif Wibowo, said the PDI-P had proposed that legislative threshold rates be arranged rank-wise for national and regional levels because this system could also bring about political party simplification.

“We’re promoting this as we see that people can have different choices at their respective levels of election. This attempt is also within the framework of accommodating diverse local political aspirations. In phases, it will also be directed at simplifying the party system,” he said.

Kompas

Parliamentary Threshold Value in Countries Adhering to the Proportional System.

Non-DPR parties

Meanwhile, secretaries general of seven political parties failed by the legislative threshold in the 2019 general elections communicated online on Saturday evening (6/6) in response to the 7 percent legislative threshold as referred to in the Elections Bill.

The seven parties are the Indonesian Solidarity Party, Indonesian Justice and Unity Party, United Indonesia Party (Perindo), Garuda Party, People’s Conscience Party (Hanura), Crescent Star Party and Berkarya Party. In essence, they unanimously rejected the legislative threshold increase to 7 percent.

Hanura Secretary General Gede Pasek Suardika said if the increase was realized, the sacred essence of democracy, namely the people’s voice that should be well safeguarded, would be sabotaged by the rule purposely made by major political parties.

The problem is that the legislative threshold rise will cause more votes to be lost or unrepresented in the DPR. “It’s only national legitimate votes. If the rule is forced to apply to regions, tens of millions of people’s legitimate votes for the DPRD of regencies, cities and provinces are also removed by one article, even one paragraph in the Elections Law,” he said.

In addition, the legislative threshold rise has the potential to deny the diversity of political aspirations in Indonesia. The other negative impact is that the rule will lead to a return of general elections to the model of the New Order period, with only three political parties participating.

To prevent the DPR from raising the legislative threshold, Indonesian Justice and Unity Party Secretary General Verry Surya Hendrawan said the secretaries general calling the group ProDemocracy Secretary General Forum would intensify their communication with legislators and political parties proposing the threshold increase, as well as with opposing factions in order to strengthen the rejection of the higher threshold.