Tug of War Behind Election Law Revision
Summary
- The parliament is divided over Election Law revision. Several parties suddenly turned against the revision, including PDI Perjuangan, Gerindra, Golkar, the United Development Party (PPP), the National Mandate Party (PAN), and recently the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the National Democrats (Nasdem), leaving only Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) which has yet to take a stance and Democrats that goes ahead.
- Normalizing Pilkada timing was included in the initial draft on the revised Election Law bill, following concerns that the electability of potential governors for the presidential election would diminish if 2022/2023 Pilkada is postponed, in addition to election fraud risk as the regional heads position being temporarily filled by the acting officials selected by the Ministry of Home Affairs. However, Pilkada's postponement is deemed beneficial for the party in power.
- Parties with moderate votes risked being kicked out of the parliament if the parliamentary threshold is increased by at least five percent. Based on D-Insights' records, such risk overshadows PAN and PPP as their votes decline and are closest to the 2019 legislative election threshold. If the threshold is raised to seven percent, Democrats are also on edge.
- Most parliament parties aim for a lower presidential threshold, threatening parties holding the most significant votes in the General Election, which have benefited from coalition and polarization.