Members of the General Elections Implementation Bill special committee gather at a working meeting with the government at the legislative complex in Senayan, Jakarta, Monday (19/6). The House of Representatives and the government are still trying to complete the bill, which contains five crucial issues.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS – Reaching consensus in the deliberation of crucial issues concerning the draft law on elections is impossible without efforts to bring together the leaders of the 10 political parties at the House of Representatives. Active engagement by President Joko Widodo is eagerly awaited in the effort to arrange such a meeting.
It is hoped that party leaders at such a meeting would get on the same page and establish a shared commitment to complete the deliberation of the draft, especially on several crucial issues. “Now it is all up to the President, whether or not he wishes to consolidate our democracy and actively bring together all political party leaders,” Election Draft Law Special Committee deputy chair from the Democratic Party faction Benny K Harman told Kompas on Thursday (29/6/2017).
Currently, heated debates are focused on five crucial issues in the election draft law: the presidential nomination threshold, the electoral threshold, the system on legislative elections, seat allotments for constituencies and the method to convert votes into House seats.
At the same time, the draft law must be approved soon, as the steps leading to the 2019 election begin in October 2017. Before those steps, the General Election Commission (KPU) and the Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) need time to arrange and promulgate election regulations. Amid all these preparations, the two agencies will need to manage the 2018 regional elections.
Benny said consensus was hard to achieve in the deliberation of the draft, as the leaders of the 10 parties at the House had never sat down together and talked about mutual commitments. Thus far, meetings were held separately between several political party leaders.
If the President decides to let the House take over the decision-making process, Benny said, then the House would use various decision-making mechanisms, including plenary voting. “The House is ready for a vote, but what about the government?” he asked.
Separately, election watchdog Association for Election and Democracy (Perludem) executive director Titi Anggraini said she hoped the President could become a mediator in the deliberation of the draft law. She added that the draft law’s deliberation would be a major breakthrough for the Joko Widodo-Jusuf Kalla administration. “A commitment and statesmanship from the President is necessary to request political parties to prioritize the quality of the 2019 elections instead of their own sectoral interests,” she said.
Consensus
Separately, State Secretary Pratikno said the momentum for consensus in the deliberation of the draft law was getting stronger, but he refused to share details on this.
“This is what is being deliberated among political parties right now. There have been several meetings between political parties, both at the level of chairpersons and secretary generals,” Pratikno said when asked whether it was necessary for the President to meet with party leaders.
Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo said a meeting between the President and party leaders regarding the deliberation of the election draft law was not urgent right now. The spirit of deliberation and consensus and open communication between House factions and party leaders could overcome the deadlock.
“I don’t think it is necessary to get the President involved. Faction heads and political parties’ secretary generals and chairs can communicate with one another to establish a singular perception,” Tjahjo said.
According to Tjahjo, what is necessary right now is to develop a spirit of unity on strengthening the presidential system. The government aimed to do this by maintaining the presidential nomination threshold at 20 percent of House seats or 25 percent of the national vote.
Other than the five crucial issues, Tjahjo said, the deliberation of the draft currently only included efforts to arrange the articles that have been formulated by the formulation team. Another special committee meeting would be called to decide whether the five crucial issues will be decided through deliberation and consensus or by voting in a House plenary session.
The Nasdem Party House faction’s deputy chair, Johnny G Plate, said there had been frequent meetings between political party elites during the deliberation of the draft law, adding that the Nasdem Party was open to any requests from other political parties to deliberate the draft law.
However, he said he was pessimistic that the meetings would bring any results, as all the political parties were now fighting for their respective interests in the 2019 election, especially regarding the issue of the presidential nomination threshold.
As there was a slim chance of political parties and their House factions changing their respective stances on the presidential threshold, most likely the decision would be made through voting.
“The special committee on the election draft law has decided that all deliberations at the special committee must be completed by July 10. Results of the deliberation will be brought to a plenary session to be approved on July 20. If the issue of the presidential threshold remains unresolved [on July 10], we will put it to a vote at the plenary session,” said Johnny, who serves on the special committee himself.
