Constitutional Court Decides National and Local Elections Will No Longer Be Simultaneous

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – Starting in 2029, elections will no longer be conducted with five boxes to select members of the DPR, DPD, president and vice president, provincial DPRD members, and district/city DPRD members. The Constitutional Court has decided to separate the national elections for the DPR, DPD, and president and vice president from the local elections for the selection of governors and vice governors, regents and vice regents, mayors and vice mayors, and DPRD members.

Local elections are held at the shortest 2 years and at the longest 2 years and 6 months after the inauguration of members of the DPR and DPD or after the inauguration of the president/vice president. The Constitutional Court has entrusted the lawmakers to determine the specific timing for the implementation of local elections and to regulate the transition period for the terms of office of the members of the regional legislative council resulting from the elections on February 14, 2024, and the regional heads resulting from the simultaneous regional elections in 2024.

The Constitutional Court granted the request submitted by the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) in case 135/PUU-XXII/2024, which examined Article 1 Paragraph (1), Article 167 Paragraph (3), Article 347 Paragraph (1) of the election law, and Article 3 Paragraph (1) of Law Number 8 of 2015 concerning Regional Elections, on Thursday (26/6/2025). The hearing was presided over by Chief Justice Suhartoyo.

Previously, through Decision Number 55/2019, the Constitutional Court had entrusted the lawmakers to choose the synchronization model to be used. The Constitutional Court provided examples of six synchronization models that could be selected by the lawmakers. In the considerations read by Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra, the Constitutional Court stated that it remains steadfast in its decision 55/PUU-XVII/2019. However, five years have passed, and the lawmakers have yet to make any changes to Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning Regional Elections.

"With the aim of realizing quality elections and considering the ease and simplicity for voters in exercising their right to vote as a manifestation of the people's sovereignty as stated in the Constitutional Court's decision Number 55/PUU-XVII/20219, particularly in determining the model choices for the simultaneity of elections, especially points 3 and 4 (p. 324), and in order to realize the principle of people's sovereignty as enshrined in Article 1 Paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution, as well as the objectives of organizing elections as stated in Article 22E of the 1945 Constitution, after reflecting on the practices considered above, according to the Court, the constitutional simultaneity of future elections should involve separating the elections for members of the DPR, members of the DPD, and the president-vice president from the elections for members of the provincial/regional/city DPRD and governors-vice governors, regents-vice regents, mayors-vice mayors," said Saldi Isra while reading the considerations.

In its considerations, the Constitutional Court stated that the timing of the elections for members of the DPR, DPD, president and vice president, as well as members of provincial/district/city DPRD, which is close to the time of the regional elections, results in limited time for the public to assess the performance of the government resulting from the presidential and legislative elections. Furthermore, the close timing and the merging of the elections for DPRD members with the elections for members of the DPR, DPD, president, and vice president tend to overshadow regional development issues amidst national issues.

In fact, development issues in each region must remain a focus and should not be allowed to be overshadowed by national development issues or problems presented by candidates competing for political positions at the central level.

The Constitutional Court also considered the fatigue experienced by voters when the elections for governors, regents, and mayors are held close to the elections for members of the House of Representatives, Regional Representative Council, president and vice president, and regional legislative councils. "Even when delving into more specific and detailed issues, this fatigue is triggered by the experience of voters who must cast their votes and make choices among many candidates in the general elections for members of the House of Representatives, members of the Regional Representative Council, president and vice president, and members of the provincial/regional/city legislative councils that use the five-box model," said Saldi.

Based on experiences at polling stations, voters' focus becomes fragmented due to the excessive number of candidates, while at the same time, the time available for casting votes is very limited. "This condition, whether realized or not, leads to a decline in the quality of the implementation of people's sovereignty in elections. Not only that, for instance, after the vote counting at polling stations during the 2019 General Election, due to the complicated technicalities of vote counting and the limited time for vote recapitulation, many election organizers became victims, both suffering from illness and passing away," emphasized Saldi.

The Constitutional Court is aware that there are two legal issues that must be considered regarding the model of simultaneous elections. The issues are the ideal or at least near-ideal interval between the national elections and local elections, as well as the regulation of the transition period concerning the positions of regional heads resulting from the simultaneous regional elections in 2024 and the members of the Regional People's Representative Council resulting from the elections on February 14, 2024. The Constitutional Court cannot determine a specific time interval as this is intertwined with the technical aspects of all stages of the election administration.

Not only that, the Constitutional Court also considered that the stages of organizing the elections for members of the DPR, DPD, president and vice president, and members of the DPRD, which are scheduled to take place within less than one year of the regional elections, have implications for political parties, particularly in terms of their ability to prepare cadres. As a result, according to the Constitutional Court as stated by Constitutional Judge Arief Hidayat, political parties are easily trapped in pragmatism rather than the desire to maintain idealism and ideology.

In addition, according to Arief, political parties are also struggling to recruit candidates for legislative positions at three levels simultaneously. For certain political parties, they must also prepare their cadres to participate in the presidential and vice-presidential election contest. The proximity of these political agendas has led to a weakening of the institutionalization of political parties.

"As a result, the recruitment for political candidacies in the elections opens wide opportunities based on transactional nature, making the elections far from an ideal and democratic process. Several empirical examples mentioned above indicate that political parties are compelled to recruit candidates based on popularity solely for electoral interests," said Arief.

Similarly, the election organizers are facing pressure from several stages of the election, and the initial phase of the regional election has resulted in a backlog of burdens that ultimately affects the quality of the election administration.