The Law Development Division of ALSA LC UGM held its National Video Conference 2020 on Sunday, September 13, 2020, conducted entirely online via Zoom Meeting. This year's theme was "Penetrating the Power Politics of Parliamentary Threshold," drawing a total of 146 participants. Resource persons were Dr. Zainal Arifin Mochtar, S.H., LL.M. and Titi Anggraini, S.H., M.H.
Dr. Zainal Arifin Mochtar, as the first speaker, opened the discussion on parliamentary threshold as a concept for party simplification based on the foundational assumption that people must not be prevented from forming political parties so long as the requirements for party formation are met. He explained that Indonesia's current parliamentary threshold has reached a point of constraining diversity, as the system risks eliminating minority voices from the legislature. Ms. Titi Anggraini then led a discussion on the thresholds applied to reduce smaller parties in parliament in order to create a constellation that strengthens the president within the executive. She presented a series of data sets, concluding that the current number of parties differs from the effective number of parties in parliament. Her conclusion was that the higher the threshold figure, the more votes are wasted and the less proportional the electoral system becomes.
At the close of the presentation and Q&A session, the moderator summarized both speakers' responses to the questions raised. The event concluded with the distribution of certificates and a group photo session.
