Observer: A Win-win Solution Is Needed To Set The Presidential Threshold

JAKARTA - The discourse on the zero percent presidential threshold (PT) continues. Some community groups have even brought it to the Constitutional Court for a judicial review.

Meanwhile, several political parties (political parties) have stated that they reject the discourse on the zero percent presidential threshold. The reasons for these several political parties also vary in determining the percentage of the presidential threshold.

There are political parties that propose 5 to 10 percent, there are 10 percent, and there are also those who actually ask for 30 percent. However, more political parties want PT to be reduced from 20 percent. This indicates that there is still an opportunity to lower the percentage of the presidential nomination threshold.

Political communication observer at Esa Unggul University, M. Jamiluddin Ritonga, assessed that in order to find common ground from the discourse, it is necessary to take a middle way regarding the determination of the percentage of the presidential threshold (PT).

"Political parties in the House of Representatives (DPR) need to consider the same PT with the parliamentary threshold of 4 percent," said Jamiluddin in Jakarta, Thursday, December 16.

If there are 9 political parties that enter Senayan, continued Jamiluddin, then all political parties automatically have the right to nominate candidates for president and vice president. According to him, the number of pairs of presidential and vice-presidential candidates has given voters many choices as expected by democracy.

"The number of pairs is also expected to be close to the characteristics of voters in Indonesia. The variation of voters is at least reflected in the pairs to be elected," he explained.

If the threshold is accepted, said Jamiluddin, every political party that enters Senayan will automatically have the right to nominate their own presidential and vice-presidential candidates. So, he said, every political party in Senayan does not need to form a coalition when carrying out presidential and vice-presidential candidates.

"The opportunity for a coalition will open if there is no winner in the first round of the presidential election. The pair of candidates who enter the top two in the first round can invite other political parties to form a coalition in the second round," said Jamiluddin.

"Hopefully, this win-win solution can mediate the discourse around PT. The problem is whether political parties want to be wise and proportional in determining PT?" he said.