Electoral Law Revision Expected Not to Undermine Indonesian Democracy
JAKARTA — Deputy Chair of Commission II in the House of Representatives Aria Bima has expressed hope that the revision of Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning Elections will not undermine democracy in Indonesia.
He conveyed this hope during a public hearing session of Commission II with several constitutional law experts discussing the Electoral Law Bill at Parliament Complex, Jakarta, on Tuesday, 10 March 2026.
“We in Commission II hope that the Electoral Law we formulate will not weaken our democracy. Rather, there must be various breakthrough measures based on evaluations and input from democracy activists and various stakeholders,” said Aria on Tuesday.
In the past, parliamentary thresholds have caused several problems, ranging from the effectiveness of work in the House of Representatives to parties failing to meet the threshold.
“In the past, when we did not yet have a parliamentary threshold, we once experienced merged factions with very few members in each commission. Meanwhile, the instruments of the House of Representatives are now quite numerous, so the effectiveness of work also needs to be considered,” said Aria.
He stressed that people’s representation must not be neglected when discussing the parliamentary threshold in the Electoral Law Bill.
“We also understand public aspirations that do not want to lose the representative principle. There are millions of voter voices that ultimately are not represented because their party failed to enter parliament, so we must find a meeting point between representation and effectiveness,” said the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician.
Several recent Constitutional Court rulings have shaped the debate. First, the Constitutional Court issued Decision Number 62/PUU-XXII/2024 on the abolition of the presidential nomination threshold, which was previously 20 per cent.
Second, the Constitutional Court also decided that national and local elections should be separated starting from 2029, as stipulated in Decision Number 135/PUU-XXII/2024.
This means national elections will only be for selecting members of the House of Representatives, Regional Representatives Council, and president/vice president. Meanwhile, local elections for selecting provincial and regency/city regional representatives will be held together with regional head elections.
Third, the Constitutional Court subsequently issued a ruling requiring a minimum of 30 per cent female representation in various House of Representatives committees.