Jakarta – The House of Representatives (DPR), in its plenary meeting presided over by Deputy House Speaker Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno here on Monday, agreed to pass the bill on presidential election into law.

Special committee chairman, Teras Narang, reported to the House plenary meeting that the 17 chapters and 71 articles of the bill, as drafted by the government, had become 15 chapters and 103 articles.

Teras said deliberations on the presidential election bill had been marked by tough debates between House factions on some crucial points.

The crucial points included the question of whether the presidential election would be held simultaneously with the election of legislators, the requirements for presidential nominations and presidential campaigns and their funding.

"The presidential and vice presidential candidates are to be nominated by a political party or a coalition of political parties on the principle that the pair should be united in thought and spirit to enable them to form a solid and harmonious government," Teras said.

He said a fierce debate had also come up in the committee when it deliberated the requirements for a political party or a coalition of political parties to be eligible to name its presidential and vice presidential candidates.

The committee finally agreed that, in next year's general election, a political party or a coalition of political parties should win at least 3 percent of the total seats of the House or 5 percent of the vote returns in the legislative election, to make it eligible to nominate a presidential and vice presidential pair. In the general election in 2009, however, the requirement would be at least 15 percent of total House seats or 20 percent of the vote returns in the legislative election.