Fate of Regional Legislatures Caught in Separation of National and Local Elections; Interim Elections or Extended Terms Proposed

Jakarta — The Constitutional Court (MK) has decided to separate national and local elections starting in 2029 through Decision Number 135/PUU-XXII/2024.

This means national elections will only be for selecting DPR members, DPD members, and the president/vice president. Meanwhile, legislative elections for provincial and regency/municipality regional legislatures (DPRD) will be held together with regional head elections.

In its legal considerations, the MK has proposed that legislative elections for regional legislatures held together with regional elections should be conducted at the earliest two years after the presidential/vice presidential inauguration, or at the latest two years and six months after inauguration.

During a public hearing session (RDPU) by Commission II of the DPR discussing amendments to Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning General Elections, constitutional law expert Mahfud MD proposed the introduction of interim elections.

This interim election, according to Mahfud, would be specifically for selecting regional legislature members with a term of only 2 to 2.5 years.

“So appoint regional legislators for just 2.5 years. After 2.5 years, there will be another election lasting 5 years. So this synchronisation will eventually converge in 2034. They will eventually synchronise,” said Mahfud during the public hearing session at the Parliament Complex in Jakarta on Tuesday, 10 March 2026.

With this arrangement, local elections for regional heads and regional legislature members from provincial to regency/municipality level can be held synchronously in 2031.

“So here’s how it works: regional heads are appointed and given authority by law, whilst the regional legislatures hold interim elections. That’s it, just 2.5 years,” said Mahfud, the former Constitutional Court chairman.

The proposal is designed to accommodate the Constitutional Court Decision Number 135/PUU-XXII/2024 which separates national and local general elections.

Under that decision, national elections are only for selecting DPR members, DPD members, and the president/vice president.

“If terms are extended, it doesn’t cause harm and actually benefits [the system]. So there’s no issue with that. That’s constitutional engineering,” said Arief during the Gaspol podcast programme on YouTube Kompas.com on Wednesday, 25 February 2026.