Government Opens Door for Negotiation on Proposing Election Law Revision

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Coordinating Minister for Law, Human Rights, Immigration, and Correctional Services Yusril Ihza Mahendra has stated that the government is open to the possibility of becoming the party to submit the draft revision to the General Elections Law (RUU Pemilu).

Yusril mentioned that the government is prepared to negotiate becoming the proposer of the RUU Pemilu draft if the preparation process in the House of Representatives (DPR) remains at a standstill.

“If, for example, after a year and a half or two and a half years it still isn’t finished, then there’s no harm in renegotiating who will submit the draft,” Yusril said when met after attending a UN training event in East Jakarta on Wednesday (29/4/2026).

“I don’t yet know the latest developments, but the government is still waiting for the draft to be completed and prepared by the DPR,” he added.

He explained that from the beginning, the government and the DPR agreed that the preparation of the RUU on Amendments to the Election Law would be the initiative of the DPR.

“Indeed, the agreement between the government and the DPR is that the discussion of the RUU Amendment to the Election Law is handed over to the DPR, and until now it hasn’t been completed,” Yusril stated.

According to him, if the RUU initiative is with the DPR, the government will prepare a list of problem inventories (DIM) after the draft is finished.

However, if the initiative is shifted to the government, the government must prepare the RUU Pemilu draft independently.

It was previously reported that the RUU Pemilu process in the DPR has not yet moved to the formal discussion stage.

Several factors, from the unreadiness of the draft, legislators’ caution, to political interest tug-of-war, are said to be the causes of the policy’s stagnation.

DPR Speaker Puan Maharani emphasised that communication regarding the RUU Pemilu actually continues internally within political parties, even though it hasn’t entered official parliamentary discussions.

“Regarding the RUU Pemilu, there is indeed a time limit for it. And political communications continue to be carried out within the political parties, and that’s not done secretly,” Puan said at the DPR Building in Senayan, Jakarta, on Tuesday (21/4/2026).

“Communication can be done formally and informally. However, political communication is always maintained,” she added.