Deputy Speaker Of The House Of Representatives From Gerindra Party Affirms That Revision Of The Election Law On Prestigious Threshold Is Not Enough Time

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives from Gerindra Sufmi Dasco Ahmad/DOK Personal Instagram

JAKARTA - The leadership of the House of Representatives (DPR) denied that the institution did not want to accommodate the aspirations of the people regarding the change in the 20 percent presidential threshold (PT) rule to zero percent.

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives from Gerindra Party, Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, emphasized that the rules regarding the threshold for nominations for president and vice president as well as political parties are already binding in the legislation.

"We can see that the derivation of the Constitution is about the nominations for the president and vice president by political parties. That then the existing law states that," said Sufmi Dasco Ahmad at the DPR building, Monday, December 20.

"So we don't want to take aspirations from the community, but then the law that was made was a revision of the 2017 law based on the aspirations of the people," he continued.

Dasco said that the opinion that developed in the community would still be accommodated by the DPR for future improvements. However, he said, now is the time to enter the electoral process. Therefore, it is not possible to revise the Election Law.

"This stage of the election that is already underway will then be disrupted if we make more revisions that will not have enough time," Dasco explained.

"So it's not that we are not aspirational," he added.

Dasco did not deny that the DPR will discuss changes to the Election Law, especially the presidential threshold in the future.

"It is possible to take a long stage in the process of revising the Election Law, but later," said Dasco.

According to the Chairperson of Gerindra's DPP, PT 20 percent is ideal. Gerindra, said Dasco, will follow the rules of the game that have been stipulated by law.

"How many elections have we had, if we say it's not ideal now, it means that we are not consistent. That Gerindra is in accordance with existing laws and regulations, we will participate. If the law says 20 percent we will participate in 20 percent, if 25 percent, we will participate 25 percent, that's all," said Dasco.