Alfian, Jakarta – An NGO alliance called Ganofo said Tuesday the government should combine the 2009 legislative and presidential elections in efforts to stabilize the government and strengthen political coalitions.

Reading a statement by Ganofo, alliance member Athoilah Muhamad said, "Simultaneous elections will minimize political fragmentation and, as (a) result, create an effective administration".

Made up of four NGOs, the alliance said the current election system, which separates legislative and presidential elections, can see a president elected carrying strong public support but little legislative support.

Ganofo used President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's election as an example. Yudhoyono won 60.62 percent of popular votes but parties supporting him won 11.33 percent of votes.

"The House of Representatives is always resistant to all Yudhoyono's policy," Ganofo member August Mellaz said. "This has lead the president and Vice President to meddle with internal affairs of opposing parties which is weakening the party system."

August said holding the elections at the same time would create a more permanent coalition of parties.

He said the alliance proposed to combine the simultaneous elections with a system called "run-off with a reduced threshold or conditional majority".

"The winner of presidential election is a candidate who could get 45 percent of votes or 40 percent votes, with at least 5 percent more votes from candidate at the second place," August said.

But member of the House Representative's committee working on legislative elections, Syaifullah Ma'shum, said he disagreed and the presidential election should precede the legislative election.

But Syaifullah said regardless of all arguments, time limitations would see the legislative and presidential elections follow the existing system. "Maybe we can do it in the 2014 election," he said.