NasDem Party Disagree with Four Regulations in the New Election Law Bill

Members of the Special Committee for the new Election Law Bill from the National Democracy Party (NasDem) express their objection on four regulations in the Bill. First, members of the NasDem Party says it would be better if the government implement pure open-list proportional election system, as mandated by the Constitutional Court (MK), instead of the limited open-list system. NasDem wants voters to vote for individual candidate on the ballot instead of only vote for political party.

“The limited open-list system is basically a closed-list system. We urge the Government to obey the mandate from MK,” says a member of the Special Committee from NasDem, Tamanuri, during the meeting to discuss the Bill in Jakarta (11/31).

Secondly, NasDem criticize the rate of parliamentary threshold. NasDem suggests that the government should increase the threshold so that the government can execute their programs properly. According to NasDem, it would be more chaotic for the government if there are more political parties in parliament.

Thirdly, NasDem asks the government to increase the number of member of the National Parliament from currently 560 members. According to NasDem, the number of parliament members should be increased according to the increase of total population.

Lastly, NasDem criticize the saint lague method in the Bill that will be used to allocate parliamentary seats among elected officials based on the number of votes. According to NasDem, this method is only advantageous for big and dominant political parties.