Once Rejected, Parliamentary Threshold Lawsuit Is Again Submitted To The Constitutional Court

The MK Building (Photo: Diah Ayu Wardani / VOI)

JAKARTA - The Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) submitted a request for a judicial review of the parliamentary threshold provisions to the Constitutional Court (MK). The parliamentary threshold is stipulated in Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning Pemulu.

Perludem Executive Director Titi Anggraini considers that so far the determination of the parliamentary threshold figure in the election law has never been based on a calculation basis that is transparent, open, and in accordance with proportional election principles.

"The existence of a parliamentary threshold, in practice, disturbs the fair principle of converting votes to seats for political parties as election participants and also for voters who cast their votes," Titi told VOI, Friday, June 26.

However, this does not mean that Perludem does not agree with the parliamentary threshold. Indeed, the parliamentary threshold should remain. However, Perludem focuses on the amount of the threshold which is considered not proportional and tends to increase. This increase in magnitude is considered without the accountability of a rational determination method.

In the 2009 elections, the parliamentary threshold was 2.5 percent. Then, in the 2014 election, the threshold was raised to 3.5 percent. Then it rose again in the 2019 elections to 4 percent. In the 2024 General Election, the discourse on increasing the parliamentary threshold will be rolled out again. However, this is still under discussion on the Draft Election Law.

"For this reason, with the submission of a judicial review of the provisions of this parliamentary threshold to the Constitutional Court, we hope that it can further reinforce and maintain the proportionality of elections in Indonesia going forward," he said.

Strategy so as not to be rejected again

In fact, the parliementary threshold has been submitted to the Constitutional Court several times. One of them is the Garuda Party in 2018. Garuda, at that time, considered the parliamentary threshold to be burdensome for new parties to be able to compete in the 2019 Election contest so that they could have seats in the Indonesian Parliament.

But unfortunately, the Constitutional Court judges considered the parliamentary threshold provisions did not violate the constitution. This is because every citizen has the right to form a political party, but there is still a need for a rational selection and limitation process through these threshold provisions.

Seeing this fact, Titi admits that she has a strategy that strengthens legal arguments in her petition for judicial review. Perludem will ask the Constitutional Court to decide whether the 4 percent parliamentary threshold is in accordance with the principle of a proportional electoral system or not.

"This is a very important constitutional question to be answered by the Constitutional Court, because it will determine legal certainty in the election administration regulations. Regarding legal certainty, it is clearly a matter of norms constitutionality which is important for the Constitutional Court to answer," said Titi.

Moreover, the consistency of the parliamentary threshold is closely related to the fulfillment of the election principles stipulated in Article 22E Paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia, especially the principles of honesty and fairness.

"Then when there is an inconsistency in the regulation, as well as disproportionate election results as a result of setting the parliamentary threshold, it is clearly contrary to Article 22E Paragraph (1) of the 1945 NRI Constitution," he said.