National and Local Elections Separated, Several Laws Need to be Synchronized

JAKARTA, KOMPAS - The Constitutional Court's decision to separate national elections from local elections starting in 2029 needs to be followed by the synchronization of several laws and regulations, including those governing representative institutions/parliaments. The Chairman of the Regional Representative Council or DPD, Sultan B Najamudin, emphasized the importance of revising the Law on the MPR, DPR, DPD, and DPRD or the MD3 Law. This is in light of the fact that the election for the DPRD will no longer be held simultaneously with the elections for the DPR and DPD.

"This Constitutional Court decision is quite good and important, not only in unraveling the problem of the workload of election organizers, but also as a momentum to reorganize the structure of our legislative power in the MD3 Law. Because the DPRD as an element of the regional government organizer has been included in the local election group," said Sultan in a press release received by Kompas, Sunday (29/6/2025).

The former Deputy Governor of Bengkulu proposed the division of Law MD3 into Laws for the MPR, DPR, DPD, and DPRD. Alternatively, if feasible, each branch of legislative power could have its own law.

Lawmakers need to look carefully and comprehensively at translating this Constitutional Court decision into election law material.

Previously, the Constitutional Court, through its decision number 145/PUU-XXII/2024, granted part of the request submitted by the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem), which sought the separation of national elections (DPR, DPD, president/vice president) from local elections (provincial/city/district legislative councils and regional heads).

The Constitutional Court stated that in order to maintain the quality of the electoral process, which is a manifestation of the implementation of people's sovereignty, simultaneous elections will no longer be conducted together in five boxes (to elect the House of Representatives, Regional Representative Council, president/vice president, provincial regional parliament, and district/city regional parliament). National elections will be held according to the ongoing constitutional agenda, which is 2029, while local elections will be conducted no later than 2.5 years after the inauguration of the House of Representatives/Regional Representative Council or the president/vice president.

The Sultan stated that his side welcomes the decision of the Constitutional Court. Following this decision, it is necessary to innovate the format of the electoral process gradually so that the quality of democracy in Indonesia improves.

"The hope is that the separation of national and local elections will further enhance political participation among the public and strengthen the relationship between the central government and the regions. Nevertheless, lawmakers need to carefully and comprehensively consider how to translate this Constitutional Court decision into the material of the election law," said Sultan.

The Sultan also reminded of the necessity for several adjustments or constitutional engineering concerning the structure of political institutions and the demands of national and regional development interests.

In addition, according to the Sultan, the election organizers and the government need to anticipate the dynamics of changes in voter data. This is because the gap between the national elections and the local elections is two years.

"Updating voter data will be a task that must be prioritized by the organizers. A period of 2 years is a significant time that affects the number of residents on the permanent voter list," said Sultan.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Constitutional Law Study Program at UIN Sunan Kalijaga, Yogyakarta, Gugun El Guyanie, stated that the Constitutional Court's decision has a positive impact on many aspects, particularly the institutionalization of political parties. First, political parties will have the time and energy to carry out leadership training, both at the national and local levels.

In 2029, political parties can prepare their cadres to become presidential/vice-presidential candidates and legislative candidates in a mature and quality manner. With a gap of two or 2.5 years thereafter, while evaluating cadres at the national level, political parties can prepare for local democratic festivities by preparing candidates for governor/vice-governor, regent/vice-regent, and mayor/vice-mayor, along with candidates for regional legislative members.

"With a regular electoral cycle like this, political parties become healthier, serving as a crucible for the cultivation of candidates with integrity," said Gugun.

Second, political parties can also improve financial management with good governance. In 2024, political parties will have difficulty managing political funding for the interests of simultaneous elections and regional elections that are close together.

According to Gugun, this has an impact on political corruption related to campaign financing that cannot be contained. Public officials who are members of political parties become ATMs for political funding.

"As a result, the 2024 elections and regional elections have unlawfully dragged the state budget through the buying and selling of mining permits, project infrastructure advances, and so on," said Gugun.

With the separation of national elections and local elections, this can be reorganized. However, there is a negative aspect to the model of separating national elections from local elections.

Gugun revealed several matters that need to be anticipated, namely the possibility that presidential and vice-presidential candidates, as well as candidates for the House of Representatives or Regional Representative Council who fail in 2029, will run in the local elections of 2032. They will compete for positions as regional heads or members of the Regional People's Representative Council.

"The impact is that it actually closes the opportunities for local cadres who should have the opportunity to fill regional leadership rotations," said Gugun.

Separately, a constitutional law lecturer at the Muslim University of Indonesia, Fahri Bachmid, said that one of the technical implications of the Constitutional Court's decision that needs to be considered by lawmakers is the constitutional engineering design structure.

This constitutional engineering concerns the term of office of DPRD members and the term of office of regional heads in accordance with the transitional norm formulation principle as well as the regulation of the regime or institutionalization of transitional/transfer institutions regarding the positions of regional heads resulting from the 2024 simultaneous regional elections and DPRD resulting from the 2024 elections.

This means that, with the established time frame and period, an extension of the term of office for the regional legislative council resulting from the 2024 election, which is supposed to end its term in 2029, needs to be carried out.

"It can be extended for two years until 2031. It seems that the formulation of the extension policy for DPRD members is a "legal policy" that is "related" and "reliable," said Fahri.

However, for the term of office of regional heads, according to Fahri, lawmakers can determine otherwise in their legal policies, for example by creating an instrument for acting regional heads (Pj) or also by extending the term of office like members of the DPRD. This is because determining which model is constitutionally appropriate is an open legal policy or becomes the domain and authority of lawmakers to formulate it.