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Indonesia may see more presidential contenders in 2019
Jakarta Post - May 2, 2017
Seven out of 10 political factions on the House's special committee deliberating the election bill have agreed to eliminate a provision within the bill that requires a political party to garner at least 20 percent of the popular vote to take part in the presidential election, committee chairman Lukman Edy said on Tuesday.
In past elections, the provision forced smaller parties to form an alliance with bigger parties to pass the threshold, thus limiting the number of presidential contenders.
Lukman, a politician from the National Awakening Party (PKB), told The Jakarta Post that the decision was made after a three-day closed door meeting in Bandung, West Java, over the weekend last week.
The PKB, along with other parties such as the Gerindra Party, the Democratic Party, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), United Development Party (PPP), the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the Hanura Party have long called for the elimination of the legislative threshold.
The Golkar Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the two largest parties, have rejected the proposal.
"The decision is final," Lukman said. "We will present the decision during a plenary meeting. No more voting will take place in the plenary," he said. (ary)
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