Dasco: Political Safari for Election Law Revision to Begin During Recess

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR) Sufmi Dasco Ahmad has confirmed that the legislative body will soon conduct a political safari to non-parliamentary parties to gather input for the revision of the Election Law (UU Pemilu). Dasco stated that the political safari will be carried out when the DPR enters its recess period. According to the DPR’s activity schedule, the recess is set to begin on 22 July 2026. “Next week we are in recess. So, we consider this recess as specific working visits, and we will proceed then,” Dasco said at the DPR building in Jakarta on Monday, 6 July 2026.

Dasco plans to lead the political safari himself alongside Commission II of the DPR, which oversees domestic governance and electoral affairs. Deputy Chairman of Commission II, Aria Bima, stated that besides Dasco, the delegation will include members from the eight parliamentary factions. According to Bima, the safari aims to hear the aspirations of political parties regarding several crucial issues in the Election Law revision, such as the parliamentary threshold, presidential threshold, electoral districts, and the maximum number of seats per electoral district. “Besides civil society and universities, in drafting this bill we want to listen to parties that are not in parliament,” the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician said at the DPR building on Wednesday, 24 June 2026.

To date, the DPR has not yet begun substantive discussions on the Election Law revision. Commission II last held a public hearing for input on the revision on 2 June 2026, featuring researcher Siti Zuhro from the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) and former General Elections Commission (KPU) Chairman Ramlan Surbakti. Under the current law, the government should start forming a selection committee for election organisers in August or September. Article 167 paragraph (6) of the current Election Law states that election stages must begin no later than 20 months before voting day. If the 2029 election follows the pattern of the 2024 election, voting day is estimated to be around February 2029, meaning stages must commence around June-July 2027.

The government has opened the possibility of becoming the proponent of the Election Law revision draft if discussions in the DPR drag on. Coordinating Minister for Law, Human Rights, Immigration, and Corrections, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, said the government is ready to renegotiate with the DPR if the discussions are not completed within the next two and a half years. Deputy Chairman of Commission II, Zulfikar Arse Sadikin, emphasised that the Election Law revision remains a DPR initiative included in the 2026 National Legislation Programme (Prolegnas). “This is a DPR initiative, which Commission II has been ordered to draft. Until now, it is still in the stage of drafting the academic paper and the bill draft,” the Golkar Party politician said at the DPR building on Monday, 15 June 2026.