KPK Suggests Presidential and Vice-Presidential Candidates Must Be Party Cadres, PKS: This is a Good Proposal
JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The Secretary-General of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), Muhammad Kholid, has positively received the proposal from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to encourage presidential and vice-presidential candidates to come from political party cadres.
“Regarding the nomination of presidential and vice-presidential candidates as party cadres, I consider this a good proposal,” Kholid stated when contacted on Friday (24/4/2026).
According to him, the idea aligns with the primary function of political parties in a democratic system, namely to conduct cadre development to prepare national leaders.
“Because the constitution assigns political parties the task of producing national leadership,” Kholid said.
In its study on political party governance, the KPK recommends adding clauses in the revision of Law No. 2 of 2011 on Political Parties.
One of the points is to regulate that the requirements for prospective presidential, vice-presidential, regional head, and deputy regional head candidates must come from the party cadre system.
“The KPK recommends that the initiators of changes to Law No. 2 of 2011 supplement provisions related to cadre development, including requirements for public office candidates to come from the party cadre system,” stated the KPK Monitoring Directorate on Friday (17/4/2026).
Among other issues, there is no integrated standard for the cadre system, no roadmap for political education, and unclear mechanisms for supervising political parties.
Based on these findings, the KPK provides several recommendations to the government, particularly the Ministry of Home Affairs (Kemendagri), ranging from developing political education curricula, integrated reporting systems, to strengthening oversight of party finances and cadre development.
The KPK also encourages further regulations on cadre development levels, tiered legislative candidacy requirements, and transparency in party financial management and reporting.