House agrees to pass election bill into law

Some 320 lawmakers, most of them members of large factions in the House, favored an option that if the number of residual votes reached less than 50 percent of the voter divisor (BPP), the votes would be combined at a provincial level.

Meanwhile, 167 lawmakers favored an option that if the number of residual votes reached 30 percent of the voter divisor the votes would be returned to the province concerned.

Two lawmakers abstained in the vote.

Following the vote, House Speaker Agung Laksono who chaired the plenary session gave a chance to Home Affairs Minister Mardiyanto to deliver the government`s response to the law.

In his five-minute address, Mardiyanto who spoke on behalf of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono asked the House Speaker to talk with other government representatives.

The law will allow 16 political parties to contest in the 2009 elections. They include nine minor parties which had parliamentary seats but did not meet the newly-agreed electoral threshold of 3 percent.

The electoral threshold requirement sparked protest from many quarters with political observer Hasanudin criticizing it as unfair.

"Ignoring the electoral threshold requirement is an great setback," Hasanuddin, who is also former chairman of the Islamic Students Association (HMI), said.

He said ...