Muninggar Sri Saraswati & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Indonesian voters have made a firm decision on the fate of 29 national political parties that participated in last week's elections: None of them will play actively on the country's main political stage – the House of Representatives, that is – for at least the next five years.
All 29 parties gained less than 2.5 percent of the total national vote in the House section of the overall legislative elections. The Elections Law stipulates that parties with less than 2.5 percent are denied the chance to gain any seats in the House, even if their candidates topped the voting in their local electorates.
The law is aimed at limiting the number of factions in the House in a bid to simplify the political-decision making.
Many of the 29 parties gained even less than 1 percent of the national vote, reflecting the weak support of voters for the parties, most of which were established recently.
Ahmad Rofiq, the secretary general of the National Sun Party, or PMB, admitted that his party may not be able to reach the parliamentary threshold, although technically, it may have won nine seats in the House.
"We may not make it [to the House]. However, we will not close down our party because we are likely to get some seats in the provincial legislative councils and district councils," he said on Thursday.
As of Thursday evening, the General Elections Commission, or KPU, tally showed that PMB, a splinter group of the National Mandate Party, had gained as low as 0.40 percent of the total vote. The Indonesian Workers and Employers Party, or PPPI, also predicted it would not make it to the House. According to the KPU tally, the party has so far secured 0.74 percent of the vote.
Rudy Prayitno, the PPPI secretary general, said the party would continue its activities. "We will nurture this party," he said.
Amelia Yani, who chairs the National People's Concern Party, or PPRN, said her party, along with a number of other small parties, would push the Constitutional Court to allow parties that could not meet the parliamentary threshold to have their representatives in the House. "These parties could form one faction in the House," she said. The PPRN gained 1.13 percent of votes, according to the KPU tally so far.
Despite the lack of support from voters, these parties have insisted on supporting a presidential candidate in July. "We are still maintaining communications with other parties for the July elections," Rofiq said.
The apparent winner of the legislative elections this year, the Democratic Party, has not belittled these parties, regardless of their performance.
On Thursday, Democratic Party chairman Hadi Utomo announced that a number of parties had signed a contract with his party. The contract stipulates, among other things, securing the parties' political will to support Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in the July presidential election.
Apart from the National Awakening Party, or PKB, which gained around 5 percent of the national vote, the other eight parties that signed the contract received less than 2.5 percent of the vote. They were the PMB, the PPPI, the Crescent Star Party, or PBB, the Pioneer Party, the Democratic Renewal Party, or PDP, the Concern for the Nation Functional Party, or PKPB, the Indonesia Justice and Unity Party, or PKPI, and the Prosperous Peace Party, or PDS.