Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Jakarta – The clutch of small parties in the ruling coalition has called on the president's Democrats to reconsider their support for a proposal that would double the legislative threshold in order to reduce the number of parties in the House of Representatives.
Taufik Kurniawan, secretary general of the National Mandate Party (PAN), said on Thursday that the Democratic Party's support for the proposal on the basis of strengthening the presidency was understandable, but that it should also consider those small parties that would no longer have access to the House.
"Millions of people vote for these parties, and to just cut them out would be to ignore the voice of the people," he said.
Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum previously said the party would propose several amendments to the 2008 Elections Law in order to streamline the House, including doubling the legislative threshold from 2.5 percent to 5 percent, tightening pre-poll requirements for parties and slashing the number of seats per constituency.
The legislative threshold is the minimum number of votes needed for a party to earn a seat in the House.
Anas said that with fewer parties, legislation would be quicker and the president would face fewer hurdles in issuing policies.
Marwan Ja'far, an official from the National Awakening Party (PKB), which is also in the ruling coalition, said any attempt to cap the number of parties in the House was undemocratic.
He warned that pushing through any such restrictions would create a hostile political environment that could be dangerous for the government. "I hope the top politicians discussing this issue think like statesmen," Marwan said.
Romahurmuzy, a senior official with the United Development Party (PPP), another coalition partner, said restricting the number of parties in the House would undermine democracy.
He said if the proposed 5 percent legislative threshold had been in place for the 2009 general elections, 32 million of the 107 million votes cast would have been squandered because they went to small parties that would not have met the threshold.
He also said parties like the PKB, the opposition Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) and the People's Conscience Party (Hanura) would never have made it into the House.
"These ideas that are currently being bandied about would spell the end not of Islamic-based parties like ours, but also opposition groups, and would give rise to a self-serving oligarchy," Romahurmuzy said.
However, the main opposition party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), has also backed calls for a trimmed-down legislature.
House Deputy Speaker Pramono Anung, from PDI-P, said that his party had introduced the idea of slashing the number of seats in each constituency long before the Democrats.
"This would also bring the voters and their representatives closer," he said. However, he said it was crucial to get the higher threshold approved first, with all the other suggestions taking a back seat.
The House Legislative Body is currently drafting an amendment to the Elections Law, which is expected to be passed this year.