Activists criticized the electoral threshold system that deprived parties representing some groups of access to Parliament (Getty)

Jakarta -

The official results of the legislative and presidential elections in Indonesia were announced a few days ago, but the scramble between the parties is not over yet, as the Constitutional Court received hundreds of appeals against the election results, including the objection of the United Development Party, which found itself losing its presence in Parliament 51 years after its founding and legislative presence. And operationally, because of the electoral threshold system.

The Constitutional Court said that the pleadings related to the election appeals received by the court as of Sunday afternoon amounted to 265 pleadings, of which two were related to the presidential elections and the rest were related to the elections for the House of Parliament and the Senate, indicating that the number of appeals may exceed what was submitted after the 2019 elections.

Among the most prominent of these appeals is the legal and human rights controversy they have generated about the fairness of the electoral threshold system, which requires any party to obtain 4% of the votes in order to enter the central parliament, a percentage that was gradually raised from 2.5% in 2009 to 3.5% in the 2014 elections, until The current ratio has been since 2019.

Critics of this system believe that it deprives the smaller groups and the rising, youth and small parties that represent millions of votes from being present in Parliament, and limits parliamentary representation to large and medium-sized parties with the greatest financial potential, unlike neighboring Asian countries whose parliaments have parties that have only two or three seats.

The electoral threshold system resulted in 10 parties being denied entry into the central parliament of Indonesia (Al Jazeera)

Victims of the electoral threshold

The electoral threshold system led to 10 parties being denied entry to Parliament despite obtaining hundreds of thousands to millions of votes, while only 8 parties entered Parliament.

One of the victims of the electoral threshold system was the oldest party with an Islamic character in history, which is the United Development Party, which reached 51 years of parliamentary and party life, which constituted a shock to the party’s leadership and its traditional bases, as it obtained 3.87% of the votes, or 5 million and 878 thousand and 777 votes, which is not a small number. of voters.

Party spokesman Ahmed Baidawi said after registering a plea with the Constitutional Court yesterday, Saturday, that his party lost at least about 200,000 votes in 30 electoral districts in 18 provinces, which would have qualified it to enter Parliament.

Also, 3 other parties with an Islamic nature were unable to enter Parliament due to the electoral threshold, the most recent of which were the opposition Umma Party and the Indonesian People’s Wave Party, and the same is true for the Star and Crescent Party, which is an old party that is trying to renew its presence in more than one electoral round, but it clashes with the electoral threshold in Every time, even though it is from the coalition supporting President-elect Prabowo Subianto.

Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, the president and founder of the People's Wave Party, Anis Matta, said that the electoral threshold system must be removed in both legislative and presidential elections, because this system narrows the space for popular participation and destroys the meaning of true popular representation of voters.

Matta added that "there are new intellectual and cultural segments and components and social and political trends among voters that cannot be represented by the traditional parties that exist today," stressing that removing the electoral threshold condition "aims to accommodate all intellectual changes and new social and political trends within the framework of a just and open political system." .

Division of the estate

The Indonesian Solidarity Party, which is one of the new, secular, youth parties, was also unable to reach Parliament, despite the party’s optimism about the possibility of doing so when its presidency was handed over to Kaisang Pangarib (29 years old), the second son of current President Joko Widodo, as the party obtained more than 4 million votes, or what it represents. 2.80%, a difference of more than one and a half million votes from the 2019 elections, in which he was also unable to enter Parliament.

The same situation was repeated with several other nationalist, patriotic and secular parties, namely the Indonesian Union Party of businessman Harry Tanno (1.29%), the Indonesian People’s Conscience Party (0.72%), the Workers’ Party (0.64%), the Nusantara Renaissance Party (0.21%), and the Garuda Party (0.21%). 0.27%).

Because of this system, the votes of more than 17 million voters were cancelled, or the equivalent of 11.3% of the valid votes cast by voters, which was in favor of the major parties, as that “legacy” was redivided mathematically among the other parties, despite the victory of the representatives of these small parties in their districts. .

It is noteworthy that the Constitutional Court, two weeks after the elections, issued a decision - which surprised many in its timing - requiring that legislators work to reconsider the electoral threshold system stipulated in the current law passed in 2017, in preparation for the 2029 elections, while maintaining the electoral threshold condition. In the current elections.

A number of parties allied with the winning presidential candidate failed to enter Parliament (Anatolia)

reconsidering

The Constitutional Court said that the electoral threshold system “contradicts the principle of people’s sovereignty and fair elections, and violates the principle of legal certainty guaranteed by the Constitution.” This was a partial response to a plea submitted by activists from the “Rally for Elections and Democracy” who saw the threshold system as depriving millions of citizens of translation. Their votes into legislative representation.

It is noteworthy that the Constitutional Court called for the participation of parties that did not find their way to Parliament this time due to the electoral threshold in discussions to reformulate the electoral law.

Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, Khairunnisa Nour Agustiati, CEO of the Rally for Elections and Democracy, said that they confirmed in their plea - part of which was accepted by the Constitutional Court - that the electoral threshold should be recalculated again if the goal was to “simplify” or “refine” the party system in the country. Or reduce the number of parties.

She said that it is not known where the idea of ​​imposing a 4% rate came from, and what is the logical justification for it mathematically, suggesting that other methods be established to govern the party system other than the electoral threshold system.

Agostiati considered the recent Constitutional Court ruling an appropriate moment to review the electoral law, after it was proven that the electoral threshold system canceled large numbers of voters’ votes, suggesting a recalculation of the number of parliamentarians for each district and other means that do not waste voters’ votes.

She pointed out that the large parties do not find themselves threatened by the electoral threshold system, while this threatens the medium and small parties, stressing the necessity of setting logical and clear justifications and reasons if Parliament once again in its amendment - which the Constitutional Court requested to be made before the 2029 elections - sets a certain percentage for the electoral threshold.

Source: Al Jazeera