Ten other parties have not succeeded in sending their representatives to Senayan. One of them is the United Development Party (PPP). The number of votes won by the PPP in the 2024 election was 5,878,777 votes. The total vote acquisition reached 3.87 percent of the national vote.
However, this number of votes has not yet reached the parliamentary threshold that parties participating in the election must achieve to be able to convert their votes into seats in the DPR. Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning Elections sets the parliamentary threshold requirement at 4 percent.
Based on these results, PPP filed a lawsuit of electoral dispute (PHPU) to the Constitutional Court (MK). However, PPP's chances of entering the parliament are increasingly slim. MK emphasized that the legislative election dispute cases filed by PPP in 8 out of 19 provinces cannot be continued (Kompas.id, 21/5/2024).
Outside of PPP's efforts that are still struggling in the Constitutional Court, a downward trend in electoral support has been experienced by PPP since the 1999 elections or post-reform. Previously, in the 1997 elections, PPP was still able to achieve 25,340,028 votes and gained 89 seats in the DPR. The achievement in the 1997 elections became a golden record for PPP because in the following elections, PPP has never again achieved the same level of electoral support and DPR seats as in 1997.
Also read: PPP applications in six electoral districts in West Java fail, increasingly difficult to get to Senayan?
In the 1999 Elections, PPP's vote count dropped to 11,330,387 (10.7 percent). The number of seats obtained also decreased to 58. After that, in the 2004 Elections, PPP received 9,248,764 votes and 58 seats in the DPR.
The number of votes for PPP in the 2009 Election has decreased again to 5,533,214 votes and only managed to win 38 seats in the DPR. The number of PPP votes at that time reached 5.3 percent of the national vote.
Having previously gained 8,157,488 votes and 39 seats in the House of Representatives during the 2014 elections, the PPP's votes decreased again in the 2019 elections. Five years ago, the PPP received 6,323,147 votes and 19 seats in the House of Representatives. At that time, the number of PPP votes had already reached the critical threshold of the parliamentary threshold, which is 4.5 percent of the national vote.
PPP faces a tough electoral challenge in the 2024 elections, having only garnered 5,878,777 votes or 3.87 percent of the national vote. This result places PPP outside of Senayan because it has not met the parliamentary threshold requirement.
PPP's political progress
Although they have not succeeded in winning seats in the DPR, PPP cadres will still play a role in provincial and district/city DPRDs. The 2024 Election results in several provinces, for example, still show PPP's success in winning seats in the provincial DPRD. In West Java and Central Java, PPP successfully won 6 seats each in the provincial DPRD.
At the Regional House of Representatives of West Sumatra Province, PKS won 5 seats. Similarly, in the Regional House of Representatives of Banten and East Java provinces, PKS managed to earn 4 seats each. In the Regional House of Representatives of South Sumatra province, PKS gained 2 seats. In several other provinces such as Yogyakarta, DKI Jakarta, South Kalimantan, and Bengkulu, PKS also earned 1 seat each in the provincial DPRD.
However, as with the trend of vote acquisition on a national level, the domination of PPP in regional levels also shows a similar tendency. In regions that have long been known as PPP strongholds, such as Aceh, Bengkulu, East Java, Central Java, West Java, and Banten, PPP still secures seats in the Regional Representative Council. However, the domination of these regions tends to remain stagnant or decrease.
Also read: PPP's fate begins to be decided at MK
At the Bengkulu Regional Legislative Council, PPP's seat achievement remains the same compared to the 2019 election. A downward trend occurred in Central Java, Banten, and East Java. In the Central Java Regional Legislative Council, PPP experienced a decrease of 3 seats. Similarly, in the Banten and East Java Regional Legislative Councils, PPP's seat acquisition decreased from 5 seats (2019 election) to 4 seats in the 2024 election. The only increase occurred in the West Java Regional Legislative Council. In West Java, PPP gained 6 seats, up from the 3 seats in the 2019 Regional Legislative Council.
This downward trend in PPP votes is a challenge for the party that has been involved in politics for more than 50 years in the country. Having inherited the glory of the Islamic party from the 1955 elections until the New Order era is proof of the PPP's political maturity.
History of the formation of PPP
The formation (fusion) of this party began on January 5th, 1973, with the melting of the potential power of four Islamic power axes, NU, PSII, Parmusi, and Perti. At the outset, PPP was led by a duo of NU and Parmusi figures, namely Idham Khalid (the Chairman of the NU Central Executive Board at that time) as President and Mohammad Syafaat Mintaredja (the Chairman of Parmusi) as Chairman.
During the New Order era, PPP only faced the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) and Functional Groups (Golkar). With these three parties, PPP managed to secure the second position after Golkar. Along the way, the party's energy was mostly drained in addressing the challenges of consolidation and internal improvement of PPP.
In 1984, NU reaffirmed the Khitah 1926 at the Muktamar 1984 and put an end to practical political activities. NU's decision had an electoral impact on PPP's seat acquisition during the 1987 elections. PPP, which previously won 94 seats, decreased to 61 seats.
The challenge of PPP consolidation also faces internal leadership conflict dynamics and the emergence of new parties post-reform. After the 1998 reform, new Islamic-themed political parties emerged, such as PKB, PAN, Justice Party (PK) before becoming Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), and Crescent Star Party (PBB). The emergence of these new parties based on Islamic voters certainly became competitors for PPP in gaining support from Islamic voters.
Also read: PPP Lawsuit Falls, MK Says Petitioner Failed to Explain Vote Transfer
In the first post-reformation election, the vote and seat acquisition of PPP in the 1999 election began to be eroded by four new parties. PKB, PAN, PKS, and PBB managed to get seats in the Indonesian parliament. Meanwhile, the seat allocation for PPP decreased to 58 seats.
Looking at the history and achievements of PPP to date, among the three political parties that were attached to the timeline of the Orde Baru era elections, PPP's fate is not as shining as PDI-P and Golkar. PPP has not been able to rise again after the change of government era.
PDI through PDI-P in the 1999 elections proved capable of being the winner. In fact, since 2014, PDI-P has always won legislative elections.
The same thing happened to Golkar. After transforming into the Golkar Party, they became the winner in the 2004 election. Golkar has also consistently been among the top three parties with the most votes in the last three elections.
Like PPP, the two parties also experienced internal dynamics and cadre formation challenges. The success of Golkar and PDI-P in maintaining their electoral legacy can provide inspiration for PPP to rise again and take part in the national political stage in the future. (R&D COMPAS)
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