Jakarta – The 2014 election is still four years away, but Indonesia's smaller political parties have begun to feel the pressure from major parties that want to see fewer competitors in upcoming elections.

The Golkar Party, the second-biggest party in the House of Representatives after the ruling Democratic Party, is now pushing for an increase in the parliamentary threshold – the minimum percentage of votes a political party needs to gain seats in the House – from the current 2.5 percent to around 3 to 5 percent.

The increase, which is primarily aimed at simplifying the nation's multiparty system, will serve a blow to political parties that fared poorly in the 2009 election. Political analysts predict that should the threshold be raised to 5 percent, only three large parties would remain in the House: Golkar, the Democratic Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

The parties have responded differently to the threat. While the United Development Party (PPP) – which got 5.43 percent of the vote in the 2009 election and is now mired by internal rifts – simply voiced its rejection of the plan, the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) decided to outmaneuver the major parties' alleged move to ditch them.

The PAN, inspired by Malaysia's Barisan Nasional, suggested the inclusion of a confederation system in the general election bill, which is currently being deliberated by the House. "We want to emulate Malaysia by allowing small parties to retain their identities even after joining a larger party," PAN politician Teguh Juwarno said.

The party, whose votes went down from 6.4 percent in 2004 to 6.1 percent in 2009, met with 17 parties, such as the Freedom Bull National Party (PNBK), the Regional Unity Party (PPD) and the Pioneer Party to talk about a possible alliance for 2014.

Small parties tend to agree with the concept of a confederation, but they questioned what was in it for them, Teguh said. "We have conducted meetings and agreed on some confederation platforms, which we will announce to the public soon enough."

Gerindra has also made an attempt to form an alliance with other parties, but it has no plan to form a PAN-style confederation. "Small parties that have declared their intention to join us will not use their original names at election time," party spokesman Ahmad Muzani said.

The 2009 election saw 38 parties take part, but only nine managed to pass the parliamentary threshold.

Harry Aziz Azhar, a legislator from Golkar, said he would block PAN's move, saying a confederation would hamper democratic progress. "We must think about the possibility of conflicts within a confederation of political parties."

A political analyst from the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), Burhanudin Muhtadi, said chances were slim that the parties would go through with their plan. "They will lose votes from their supporters, and will probably fail to pass the parliamentary threshold," he said, adding that no party had a clear idea how a confederation would work in the country's political system.

Arbi Sanit, a political analyst from the University of Indonesia, said the model of a confederation would not benefit the nation's democratic processes because the cooperation would only be temporary.

"Sooner or later parties will have their own agendas and the government will never be effective," he said. "The ideal number of parties in the House is two so our government under the presidential system can do its job for the sake of the public without any disruption," he said. Arbi encouraged parties to use the strategic coalition concept, which is suitable for Indonesia's presidential system. (rch)