Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – More political parties will likely compete in the 2014 elections after the Constitutional Court (MK) annulled the 3.5 percent parliamentary threshold set out in the election law endorsed just four months ago.
The parliamentary threshold was intended to bar political parties with no seats in the House of Representatives from contesting elections. With the MK ruling, small parties can contest the polls as long as they pass the verification process with the General Elections Commission (KPU) soon.
MK also ruled that all political parties need to undergo the verification process with the KPU, dropping the privileges given to parties, which have seats in the House to contest the poll without being verified.
"Newly-established political parties must not be treated differently, as their rights are also guaranteed by the Constitution," Constitutional Court Chief Justice Mahfud MD said on Wednesday.
The Court issued the ruling after requests from politicians to review stipulations in the law.
Article 8 of the election law states that political parties that secured the parliamentary threshold in the 2009 election can skip verification and can compete in the approaching election. It further stipulates, among others, that political parties must have at least 1,000 members and have a minimum number of branches nationwide.
Meanwhile, article 208 of the law stipulates that political parties must secure a national parliamentary threshold of 3.5 percent to be given seats in the House, and Provincial or Regional Councils.
Seventeen parties, including former Jakarta governor Sutiyoso's Indonesian Party for Unity and Justice (PKPI), filed a judicial review with the MK over these stipulations, arguing that they were discriminatory and thus would prevent them from competing against more established parties at the regional level.
The MK ruling has disappointed party factions in the House who said that it tainted their efforts to create an effective and empowering political system.
"We want to build a strong and effective presidential system through such electoral requirements. We required the minimum threshold to be implemented nationwide because we aimed to endorse efficiency in regional administrations. The Constitutional Court's new ruling will potentially ruin the efforts we made to simplify confusion that might appear in the regions at the election," lawmaker Saan Mustofa from the Democratic Party told reporters on Thursday.
Separately, Pramono Anung from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said that his party had expected the ruling after the criticism leveled at the House shortly after it endorsed the bill in April.
"I can understand that the Constitutional Court based its ruling on legal equality. However, we must understand that parliament is a political institution," he said, adding that the PDI-P would obey the ruling and apply for verification with the KPU.
Lawmakers from other party factions said that the ruling would have little impact on them as they were prepared for it.
"We actually have a similar stance to the non-parliament parties. For us, the national threshold did not empower political parties in the country. We gladly welcome the ruling and we are ready to undergo verification as mandated," Marwan Jafar from the National Awakening Party (PKB) said.
Other small parties in the House, such as the People's Conscience Party (Hanura) and the Great Indonesian Movement Party (Gerindra) have echoed Marwan as a reduced minimum requirement will benefit them.