DPR Urged to Immediately Form Special Committee on Election Bill

JAKARTA, KOMPAS - The House of Representatives and the Government are urged to promptly establish a Special Committee for the Draft Law on Elections so that discussions on the revision of the Law on Elections and Regional Elections can begin immediately. Early discussions will make the deliberations more comprehensive, while also providing sufficient time for election organizers to prepare for the stages.

Five months since the revision of the Law on General Elections (RUU Pemilu) and Regional Head Elections (Pilkada) was included in the 2025 national legislative program (Prolegnas) priority, the House of Representatives (DPR) and the Government have yet to commence discussions. Commission II of the DPR and the Legislative Body of the DPR are instead embroiled in a polemic over which DPR equipment will discuss the revision.

Commission II and the Legislative Body both claim the authority to discuss the revision of the amendment law to Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning Elections. Feeling that its authority had been violated, Commission II of the DPR then wrote to the DPR leadership to ask for clarity and confirmation of which council apparatus had the authority to handle the strategic bill (Kompas.id, 4/22/2025).

In response to this, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem), Titi Anggraini, urged the leadership of the DPR to promptly determine the council's working apparatus (AKD) assigned to discuss the revision of the Election and Regional Election Law. The determination of the AKD is the initial step to commence the revision process as it can immediately prepare the academic manuscript and draft of the bill.

According to him, the discussion on the revision of the Election and Regional Election Law should ideally be conducted by a Special Committee (Pansus), rather than by Commission II or the Legislative Body of the DPR. Through the Pansus, each faction can send members who are deemed to have the best understanding of the electoral rules. This is because not all members of Commission II or the Legislative Body of the DPR are necessarily the members of the faction who have the most understanding of electoral provisions. The Pansus model has also been used in discussing Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning Elections.

"The discussions conducted through the Special Committee, which is composed of members who are more competent regarding elections, will make the discussions deeper, more focused, and comprehensive," said Titi in Jakarta, Wednesday (23/4/2025).

He continued, the DPR must be consistent as the proposing party for the revision of the Election and Regional Election Law. This commitment must be demonstrated by promptly initiating discussions with the government. Moreover, both bills have been included in the 2025 priority national legislation program.

Titi reminded that the process of discussing the revision of the Election and Regional Election Law requires a considerable amount of time. The discussion of Law 7/2017, for instance, began on November 21, 2016, and was scheduled to be ratified on April 28, 2017. However, the discussion was delayed, resulting in the Election Law being ratified only on August 16, 2017, or one day before the stages of the 2019 Election commenced on August 17, 2017.

The same thing also occurred during the discussion of Law 8/2012 concerning the Legislative Elections, which was newly enacted on May 11, 2012. In fact, the stages of the 2014 Legislative Elections began on August 17, 2012, or only about two months after the rules were enacted.

In discussing the revision of the Election and Regional Election Law this time, lawmakers are faced with several changes in norms due to the Constitutional Court's decisions. The revision must accommodate several rulings, including the parliamentary threshold, the presidential nomination threshold, and the regional head nomination threshold. It is not impossible that the discussions will be protracted, potentially leading to a vote in the plenary session.

The delayed discussion of the Election Bill will pose a risk of a rushed resolution that is close to the implementation of the stages. Moreover, there is a tendency for public participation that will not be optimal in engaging in the discussion of the Bill.

On the other hand, discussions must also involve meaningful participation from the community. Early discussions will facilitate deliberation and participation from all stakeholders. This can help reduce rejection or suspicion regarding the existence of the Election Bill, which holds a crucial position for a democratic electoral contest.

"The delayed discussion of the Election Bill will pose a risk of a rushed resolution that is close to the implementation of the stages. Moreover, the tendency of public participation will not be optimal for engaging in the discussion of the Bill," said Titi.

The haste, he continued, is feared to impact the quality of the preparation and organization of the elections, leading to suboptimal outcomes. The election organizers do not have sufficient time to formulate derivative regulations and socialize all the electoral rules. This also has the potential to give rise to numerous lawsuits to the Constitutional Court due to the discussion process and substance deemed contrary to the constitution.

"If the electoral regulations are finalized well before the stages begin, the hope is that there will be no more alterations to the rules due to changes resulting from the testing of the Election Law at the Constitutional Court," said Titi.

The former Chairman of the General Election Commission (KPU), Arief Budiman, stated that the electoral regulations should ideally be completed one year before the stages begin. If the assumption is that the electoral stages will last for 20 months, it means that the revisions must be completed around June 2026. A one-year gap before the stages commence is necessary for creating derivative regulations, socialization, and the recruitment of election organizers.

"As soon as the election stages begin, the election organizers are no longer preoccupied with the preparation of derivative regulations and technical rules, allowing the stages to become more effective and efficient," he stated.

Arief exemplified that the implementation of the stages of the 2014 and 2019 elections was very close to the completion of the Election Law. As a result, the KPU only had a very short time to formulate the relevant KPU Regulations. During the same period, the KPU had to establish technical regulations for the implementation of each stage of the election.

On the other hand, the KPU is also faced with changes in the rules due to parties filing lawsuits with the Constitutional Court. These rule changes were even decided just a few days before the stages began. Some of these include changes to the requirements for presidential and vice-presidential candidates as well as the nomination threshold for regional heads in 2024.

"If the DPR and the Government are indeed committed to promptly revising the Election Law, it should be able to be done soon. They have also invited several parties to provide input regarding the substance of the revision," said Arief.