Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – The Constitutional Court overturned Friday a demand to scrap the parliamentary threshold of 2.5 percent giving a major boost to efforts to simplify the political party system.
The Court's chief justice Mahfud M.D., who presided over the panel of judges, said the plaintiffs had failed to provide valid arguments to support their cause.
Defying the plaintiffs' argument, the court said the debated article in Legislative Election Law 10/2008 on parliamentary thresholds did not countermand the rule of law Indonesia has adopted, saying the parliamentary threshold policy had been "made democratically" by the House and the government and provided all parties the same opportunity to take part in the next elections.
The plaintiffs in the case are legislative candidates and 11 minor parties who have contended the parliamentary threshold undermines their constitutional rights.
Among the minor parties were the Reform Democracy Party, the Patriotic Party, the United Regional Party, the People's Concern Nationalist Party and the Prosperous Indonesia Party.
The plaintiffs said the parliamentary threshold system was applicable only in countries which had adopted a parliamentary system of government rather than in those which follow a presidential system of government like Indonesia.
They called the contentious article "manipulative" because it gave no opportunity for independent legislative candidates to run, the norm in countries where the parliamentary system is already in place.
The judges, however, rejected this argument, saying whether or not a party could meet the threshold would be solely determined by voters, rather than by the House or the government. The court, however, criticized lawmakers' "inconsistency" for debating new election bills on the eve of elections.
Two of the eight judges, Maruarar Siahaan and M. Akil Mochtar, voiced dissenting opinions during the trial.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party hailed the court's ruling, saying it was in line with the spirit of simplification of the political party system which the country needed. "One way to simplify the system is to set both parliamentary and electoral thresholds," said the party's deputy chair Anas Urbaningrum.
He maintained the verdict would not discourage those parties which failed to meet the threshold or deprive them of their political rights.
Anas said he expected his party would meet the parliamentary threshold of 2.5 percent. "God willing, the party will strive to surpass the threshold. Perhaps not just surpass it, we hope to win 20 percent of the vote," he said.
Golkar Party shared the Democratic Party's positive response to the court's ruling.
"The verdict is expected to encourage political parties to make efforts to exceed the threshold, thus gaining public recognition. People's acceptance must be reflected by the number of seats in the parliament," said Golkar deputy chair Agung Laksono, who is also the House of Representatives speaker.
Since the reform era began in 1999, 24 parties contested the first election, 48 competed in 2004, then the number dropped to 38 this year. (naf)
Article 202 (1) of Election Law No. 10/2008
Political parties taking part in elections must fulfill the parliamentary threshold of at least 2.5 percent of the valid national votes to be able to take part in the determination of House of Representatives seats.