Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy

The information was made available by the KPU, the Indonesian Election Commission. The DVD was presented to representatives of political parties, the media, academia and civil society organizations in Indonesia. It comes four months before the next parliamentary, regional and local elections scheduled to take place on April 7th and the presidential elections in July (first round) and September (second round). The DVD can be ordered from the KID offices in Jakarta.

The meeting was opened by Mr Ignas Kleden, Chairperson of KID and by MR Abdul Hafidz Amshary, Chairperson of the KPU. 38 political parties will participate in the 2009 elections and 6 local parties in the Aceh province, compared to 24 political parties in the 2004 elections. The number of provinces has increased from 69 in 2004 to 77 in 2009. New is the introduction of a electoral threshold of 2,5%. It is expected that 6 to 8 political parties will meet the threshold and enter parliament.

The Behasa Indonesia version of the NIMD publication Engeneering Electoral Systems, Possibilities and Pitfalls was presented at the same evening with a lecture about the recent changes in the Indonesian electoral system. In the subsequent discussion the participants focused on the pros and cons of the new threshold with representatives of smaller parties arguing that it was undemocratic. There were fears expressed that parties may be challenging the introduction of the threshold before the Indonesian Constitutional Court after the elections.