DPR Has Not Discussed Election Bill, Dasco: We Are Careful

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The Draft Law on General Elections will not be discussed by the House of Representatives during the fourth session of the 2024-2025 legislative year. The constitutional engineering mandated by the Constitutional Court necessitates that the discussion of this bill be conducted with caution.

The Fourth Session Period from June 24 to July 24, 2025, will discuss eight draft laws (RUU). However, the Election Bill proposed by the Legislative Body (Baleg) in the 2025 National Legislative Program (Prolegnas) is not among those that will be discussed.

The Deputy Chairman of the DPR from the Gerindra Party faction, Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, stated that the Election Bill is still being discussed informally among the factions. He continued that this discussion has not yet yielded a final result, thus it cannot be presented to the public or discussed in the current session.

"For the Election Bill, we will not discuss it in this session because we are still informally communicating between factions, as this is the first time the Constitutional Court has decided on a constitutional engineering," said Dasco at the Parliament Complex, Jakarta, Thursday (26/6/2025).

The engineering of the constitution cannot be undertaken hastily. In addition to being a new matter, constitutional engineering also requires the opinions of experts who understand the constitution. Therefore, we will proceed with caution.

This constitutional engineering refers to Constitutional Court Decision Number 62/PUU-XXII/2024 regarding the removal of the threshold requirement for presidential and vice-presidential nominations. The Constitutional Court also provided guidelines in constitutional engineering for the regulation of presidential candidates.

This constitutional engineering consists of five points related to the proposal of presidential candidates. The first point states that all political parties participating in the election have the right to propose candidate pairs. This is reinforced in the second point, which states that the proposal is not based on the percentage of seats in the DPR or the national valid vote count.

The third point states that political parties participating in the election may join together to propose candidate pairs, but this should not lead to the domination of a party that limits the choices available to voters. There are sanctions awaiting in the fourth point, namely a prohibition from participating in the next election period if the participating party does not propose a presidential and vice-presidential candidate pair.

In the fifth point, it is emphasized that the formulation of constitutional engineering, including changes to the Election Law, involves the participation of all parties, including parties that do not obtain seats in the DPR. This involvement must also implement meaningful public participation.

"Well, constitutional engineering cannot be undertaken hastily. Besides being a new matter, constitutional engineering also requires the opinions of experts who understand the constitution. Therefore, we will proceed with caution," said Dasco.

The Deputy Chairman of the Legislative Body from the Golkar Party faction, Ahmad Doli Kurnia, stated that they are also awaiting a decision from the leadership regarding the discussion of the Election Bill. However, he hopes that this discussion can be conducted as soon as possible so that it can be utilized in the series of the 2029 elections.

"The problem is, when will it be discussed? As for me, I've been shouting for a year now. So, my concern is how committed the President is and the consensus among political parties. Then, hand it over to the DPR to be discussed immediately," said Doli.

Doli also does not have an issue with who will discuss the Election Bill. This is because Commission II has also sent a letter to the leadership requesting to be assigned to discuss the Election Bill. However, he reminded that the Legislative Body is a council's supporting tool (AKD) that proposes the Election Bill for the 2025 National Legislation Program.

"Once again, for me, it does not matter who wants to discuss (the Election Bill). But if it is an initiative, it is currently still with the Legislative Body and has been approved by the government. Or the discussion in the Special Committee, because so far the Election Law is one of the complex laws, which usually involves a combination of several commissions," Doli stated.

The method used in the Election Bill is also a concern. Ahmad Doli said, after being appointed who will discuss this bill, the discussion will continue to the method used, namely between omnibus or codification.

The methodology to be chosen, Doli explained, depends on the number of laws that will be consolidated. He outlined several Political Laws related to the representation system within the government system.

The representation system includes several laws, among them the Election Law, the Regional Election Law, and the Political Party Law. Meanwhile, Doli continued, in the governance system, it relates to the Presidential Law, the Supreme Court Law, the Ministry Law, the Regional Government Law, and the Village Government Law.

"If we want to unite everything from upstream to downstream, it would be better to make it an omnibus law. But if we then want to be partial with our own representation system, perhaps codification would be a more appropriate choice," said Doli.

Meanwhile, the Vice Chairman of Commission II from the Democratic Party faction, Dede Yusuf Macan Effendi, has left the decision regarding the discussion of the Election Law to the leadership. He stated that Commission II has not yet assessed the urgency of discussing the Election Law as the administration of President Prabowo has just begun following the 2024 elections.

"Currently, the Election Bill does not have any urgency. There has been no direction from the leadership of the DPR. At this time, we are also more focused on discussing issues that are of a populist nature. If asked when it will be discussed, it is possible that it will be addressed next year," said Dede.