Why Indonesia's Non-Parliament Parties Reject 5% Election Threshold - Tempo.co English

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A number of non-parliament political parties in Indonesia opposed the proposal launched by the coalition parties to raise the parliamentary threshold to 5 percent.

These parties, including the country's Hanura Party, formed the People's Sovereignty Movement (GKSR), slamming the proposal as contradictory to the Constitutional Court's ruling, which ordered lawmakers to reformulate the parliamentary threshold for future elections.

In its 2023 ruling, the Court abolished the 4 percent parliamentary threshold provision after deeming it inconsistent with the principles of popular sovereignty, electoral justice, and violated the legal certainty guaranteed by the constitution.

"The ruling must be interpreted wisely and judiciously. It shouldn't be contradictory," Akhmad told Tempo on Thursday, September 17, 2026.

The proposal was part of the discussions on the General Elections Bill. Akhmad said the drafting of the regulation on the upcoming election should focus on the nation's interest and the welfare of the people. Raising the threshold, he said, would waste more votes, citing the previous two elections, which implemented a 4 percent parliamentary threshold.

In the 2019 election, 13 million votes were not converted into seats. In the 2024 election, the number of unregistered votes was even higher, around 17 million.

Therefore, he argued, to comply with the Indonesian top court's decision, the threshold must be lower than 4 percent. 

After all, he said, the decision on the parliamentary threshold lies not in the hand of coalition parties but lawmakers.

GKSR said it would soon submit a draft proposal for the General Election Bill, pushing three options: eliminating the parliamentary threshold, implementing a parliamentary threshold based on the number of valid votes for a party in each electoral district, and a 1 percent parliamentary threshold.

"We are confident that our advice will be considered by lawmakers in accordance with the Constitutional Court's order," said Said Iqbal, Chair of the GKSR and President of the Labor Party, on Friday, September 18, 2026.

Rejection of the 5 percent threshold proposal also came from coalition members outside parliament, including the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI), which backed Prabowo-Gibran during the 2024 election. 

"If tens of millions of votes were wasted by just the 4 percent threshold, what will come with a bigger percentage?" PSI boss Bestari Barus said on Thursday, September 17, 2026.

The Gelora Party also opposed the threshold. Party member Rofi Munawar said a higher threshold disrespects voters' aspirations. "No matter how small the vote, it must still be valued," he said.

Deputy Speaker of the House Sufmi Dasco Ahmad claimed that the parliament's meeting with coalition parties was limited to discussing initial ideas for the General Election Bill. The House of Representatives, he said, would invite other parties at a later date. "No decision has been made on the brainstorming session. The discussion will be lengthy," he said.