If Serious About Improving Elections, Government and DPR Will Immediately Discuss Election Bill

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – Several elements of civil society are urging the Government and the DPR to promptly discuss the Draft Law on Elections and Regional Head Elections. This way, the limited time for regulatory discussions can be prevented. There are concerns that a narrow timeframe will only result in regulations that accommodate elite interests and face issues during implementation.

Researcher from the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) Fadli Ramadhanil assessed that in the last two electoral events, there have been too many issues that have arisen. These problems are spread across various aspects such as the stages of implementation, the electoral system, and law enforcement. Unfortunately, these various issues cannot be adequately resolved within the existing legal framework of the elections.

"In order to initiate the electoral stages properly, professionally, honestly, and fairly, one of the most important matters that needs to be resolved is the legal framework. This is certainly found in the Election and Regional Election Law," stated Fadli during a public discussion titled "The Urgency of Accelerating the Discussion on the Revision of the Election Law," held at the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) Learning House, Jakarta, on Monday (28/4/2025).

Fadli suggested that the government and the DPR should promptly consolidate to draft the electoral legal framework earlier. This aims to allow for a longer discussion period, considering that many parties need to be involved in its formulation, such as civil society, academics, and political parties. Each of these roles is equally important.

In terms of its content, Fadli is convinced that political interests will be very prominent in the formulation of the regulation. Therefore, discussions must be conducted well in advance of the commencement of the election stages. This way, not only the interests of elites and political parties are accommodated.

"If we approach the election stage, what happens is a battle of interests. Whose interests will be accommodated? The interests of the public may be left behind," said Fadli.

Nevertheless, Fadli appreciates the DPR's decision to include the Election Law and the Regional Election Law as one of the priorities in the National Legislative Program for 2025. However, that alone is not enough. It is necessary to promptly determine the academic manuscript and the parties that will subsequently draft the regulations to demonstrate their seriousness.

The Executive Director of the Network for Democracy and Electoral Integrity (NETGRIT), Hadar Nafis Gumay, emphasized a similar point. The revision of the regulations needs to be discussed promptly to ensure the readiness of the organizers. Thus, any potential issues that may arise can be minimized.

"The organizers urgently need the law to be completed in a timely manner so that they can work effectively. This is essential for the creation of all its derivative regulations," said Hadar.

He hopes that the revision of regulations related to elections, which has just been completed ahead of the commencement of the election stages as has often happened before, will not be repeated. He reminded that the impact of the delay in discussions results in election organizers not having sufficient time to formulate comprehensive technical regulations. In fact, there are regulations that are only finalized after the election stages have begun.

If improvements to the electoral system are desired, Hadar continued, that commitment must be genuinely demonstrated by the government and the DPR. Moreover, both parties were elected through a democratic system. As stakeholders, they should not complain later if they are disadvantaged by an electoral system that they actually devised themselves.

"The government and the DPR should support serious efforts to improve the elections. It is not enough to merely complain about brutal, chaotic, and disorganized elections without demonstrating a serious commitment to making improvements," said Hadar.

Meanwhile, Delia Widianti, a researcher at the Center for Political Studies of the University of Indonesia, highlighted the formulation of issues regarding the Election and Regional Election Law. The principles of procedural democracy should serve as the foundation in drafting this regulation. This is to ensure that the political process reflects the representation of the community.

"This needs to clarify the direction of our electoral goals. Are we trapped in the pragmatic interests of political elites or are we aiming for a substantial procedural democracy? The substantive principles of democracy must emerge from the very beginning," said Delia.

Separately, the Deputy Chairman of the Legislative Body of the DPR from the Golkar Party faction, Ahmad Doli Kurnia, has committed to promptly discussing the revision of the Election and Regional Election Law. This commitment is demonstrated by prioritizing this regulation in the 2025 national legislation program. Furthermore, at least two public hearings have been held to discuss these regulations.

Regarding the continuation of the discussion, Doli stated that it will be determined in the Substitute Meeting of the Deliberative Body (Bamus). The schedule for the hearing will depend on the agreement of various factions. Equally important, the shared understanding among the leaders of political parties regarding the urgency of the revision of the law will also determine how quickly the regulation will be discussed.

"The momentum to initiate this discussion will greatly depend on the agreement of the leaders of the political parties, especially those in the DPR. After all, the DPR is an extension of the political parties. If the leaders have reached an agreement, the process in the DPR will be more certain," said Doli.

Doli agrees that the revision of the Election Law must be carried out promptly. This is due to the existence of other regulations that require his institution to revise the said regulation. For instance, from the Constitutional Court's decision, there is an imperative ruling to revise the parliamentary and presidential threshold.

On the other hand, Doli does not deny that the time for discussing the regulation is becoming increasingly limited. This is because the election stages will commence 20 months prior to the holding of the five-year political event. Before that, the selection of commissioners for the KPU and Bawaslu is expected to begin in August 2026. This means that there is only one year left for the discussion.

"Thus, this law should be completed by July 2026. Hopefully, we will have discussed it for no less than a year so that we have enough time to find the most ideal system for the development of the political and democratic system in Indonesia," said Doli.