Golkar Agrees on 4-Percent Parliamentary Threshold
Thursday, 29 March, 2012 | 13:43 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:The Golkar Party has reached an agreement on parliamentary threshold, setting it at four percent—lower than the initial five percent. However, Golkar Party Deputy Chairman Agung Laksono said that internal elements of the party have yet to consider, much less respond to a proposal by other parties, that want to threshold set at 3.5 percent. “Golkar can understand if the figure is lowered to four percent,” Agung said at the offices of the Coordinating Ministry for the People’s Welfare in Jakarta on Tuesday.

The deliberation of the General Elections Bill is drawing closer to its deadline. A special committee working on the General Elections Bill is aiming to complete the preparation of the legal basis for the 2014 General Elections by the end of March. However, regulations on general elections have only reached the lobbying stage. Some of the issues which have been the source of debate are the parliamentary threshold and the number of seats per constituency.

Agung commented—on the number of representatives per constituency—that Golkar agrees on a minimum of three representatives and a maximum of eight representatives in each constituency. “Or the constituency should be added,” said the Coordinating Minister for the People’s Welfare.

ARYANI KRISTANTI | ANGGA SUKMA WIJAYA