Armando Siahaan, Jakarta – Most Indonesians want the number of parties at the House of Representatives trimmed down to improve the effectiveness of the legislature, recent surveys suggest.

In questioning 2,500 respondents in all 33 provinces across the country, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems found that most people wanted a slimmer legislature.

"Fifty-eight percent of Indonesians somewhat or strongly agree that the number of parties in the House should be reduced so that the House can be more effective in dealing with the country's issues," IFES said in a statement over the weekend.

"Only 32 percent agree that the number of parties in the House should stay the same because they represent the views of the different types of people who live in Indonesia."

The results of the study, conducted in August, echo those from a survey last month by Indo Barometer, in which 42 percent of 1,200 respondents said the nine parties currently at the House were too many. By contrast, only 16 percent said they wanted to see more than nine parties.

A quarter of those surveyed by Indo Barometer said the legislative threshold – the percentage of votes a party must win in the general elections in order to be represented at the House – was too low. Of those, 40 percent said the threshold should be quadrupled to 10 percent.

Meanwhile, a separate survey by consulting firm Charta Politika showed 56 percent of 378 respondents believed the high number of parties was having an adverse effect on the House's performance.

Almost 69 percent of respondents believed the number of parties should be reduced to five or fewer – 38 percent wanted between three and five, while 30 percent wanted just one to three.

Arya Fernandes, an analyst with Charta Politika, said this reflected the public's concerns that having too many parties in the House had affected both the government and the legislature in performing their duties.

Proponents of simplification have long argued that the presence of more parties makes the task of pushing through key government policies more difficult.

"When no party in the House has a majority... it forces the ruling party to form a coalition to get policies approved," Arya said. Even with coalitions, he said, negotiations were needed because some parties tended to buck the coalition trend.

Arya said the results of the various surveys also reflected public disappointment over the House's performance. "This month marks a year since the current legislators were inaugurated, and in that time the public hasn't seen any positive achievements," he said.

However, opponents of simplification, including several of the smaller parties, argue that raising the threshold to reduce the number of parties would unconstitutionally bar them from the legislative process.

Despite this, the House seems almost certain to approve the proposal for a doubling of the threshold, which has the support of the four biggest parties, accounting for 405 of the 560 seats at the House.