Rizky Amelia – The number of new players on the political scene ahead of the 2014 general elections will be limited to one, as only the National Democrat Party met the official verification requirements, the government announced on Friday.

"Out of the 14 political parties that applied for verification, the only one that qualified was the NasDem Party," Justice and Human Rights Minister Amir Syamsuddin told a press conference.

The government was supposed to announce the verification results last month. Deputy Minister Denny Indrayana said that since only NasDem qualified at that time, the ministry had given three other parties more time while the other 10 withdrew their bid.

"But until the scheduled deadline passed [the three] failed to meet the requirements set by the law," he said.

One of the three losing out is the Insulinde National Prosperity Party (PKBN), founded by Yenny Wahid, daughter of the late President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid. The Independent People's Union (SRI) Party, which earned substantial media coverage after it said it wanted to nominate former Finance Minister and current World Bank managing director Sri Mulyani Indrawati as its presidential candidate, is another.

The third party waiting in vain for verification was the Republican Works Party (Pakar), founded by Ari Sigit, a grandchild of former President Suharto.

Under the tough new Law on Political Parties, parties are required to have at least 1,000 members spread throughout the country's 33 provinces. Parties must also have at least 30 registered members in each of the provinces. They also need permanent offices and members in 75 percent of all districts and half of all subdistricts.

NasDem Party's eligibility for the next election might still be in question. The law stipulates that for a party to be eligible it must be verified at least two-and-a-half years before the elections, but the next vote is scheduled for April 2014.