PDI-P Urges Discussion of Election Law Revision This Year
A member of Commission II from the PDI Perjuangan faction, Deddy Sitorus, stated that the revision of Law Number 7 of 2017 on General Elections must be discussed this year to align with the election stages. According to him, the government is obliged to form a selection team for KPU commissioners this year.
“To enable the implementation of the next election stages (in 2027),” he said in a written statement on Thursday, 23 April 2026.
The last discussion on the election law revision was held by Commission II of the DPR on 10 March. At that time, the DPR presented former Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Mohammad Mahfud Mahmodin and Jimly Asshidiqqie.
Article 167 paragraph (6) of the current Election Law states that the stages of organising the election begin no later than twenty months before polling day. If the 2029 election follows the previous pattern like the 2024 election, polling day is estimated around February 2029. Thus, the stages must begin around June-July 2027.
This PDI Perjuangan DPP chairman said that discussing the election law revision requires time. Moreover, the discussion needs to involve several parties.
“It also needs to consider the possibility of judicial review to the Constitutional Court that could affect the election stages,” he said.
He stated that there are about 10 to 15 important articles to be discussed in the election law revision. The discussion does not yet include regional elections. However, he did not explain those important articles.
On Wednesday, 15 April 2025, Commission II DPR member Ahmad Doli Kurnia Tandjung said that the discussion of the election law revision should have been held on Monday, 13 April 2026. This Golkar Party politician claimed not to know the reason for the postponement of the Commission II DPR agenda, which was scheduled to hold an internal meeting to hear a presentation from the Council Expertise Agency or BKD.
Nevertheless, according to him, discussing the election law revision is a very important matter considering the approaching election timeline. For example, he said, Constitutional Court decisions related to several election issues. In particular, Doli said, Decision Number 135 which separates the organisation of general elections and regional elections.
Based on the current law, the government should start forming a selection team for election organisers in August or September. With the time condition already approaching mid-year, he questioned the effectiveness if the revision discussion is only carried out in two to three months. Therefore, he urged the DPR leadership and political parties to immediately set a serious discussion schedule.
In the election law revision, he mentioned at least ten main issues to be discussed. Five of them are classic issues, namely the electoral system (whether it remains open proportional, returns to closed, or uses a mixed system), thresholds (parliamentary threshold and presidential threshold), the size of electoral districts (district magnitude), and the method of converting votes into seats.
Meanwhile, contemporary issues include election synchronisation, strengthening the integrity and authority of elections to curb practices like money politics and vote buying, the use of digital systems in election stages, institutional reform of election organisers such as KPU, Bawaslu, and DKPP, and the idea of establishing a special election court.
Deputy Speaker of the People’s Representative Council Sufmi Dasco Ahmad assessed that the discussion of the election law revision still has a long time, so there is no need to rush it. This Gerindra Party daily chairman reasoned that the DPR wants to produce perfect regulations to minimise lawsuits to the Constitutional Court.
“The Election Law has been challenged back and forth. The MK cancels, the MK decides this, then the MK decides something else. So this time, please be patient everyone. We want to make an Election Law that is really close to perfect,” said Dasco at the DPR Complex, Jakarta, on Tuesday, 21 April 2026.
According to Dasco, the stages of the 2029 election implementation will not be disrupted. Because election organisers, such as KPU and Bawaslu, can refer to the old Election Law. He asked the public to be patient because political parties, both those in parliament or not, are still conducting simulations for the election law revision. One of them is the ideal parliamentary threshold figure that needs to be changed following the MK decision.
“It’s not anything, don’t let us rush or hurry the Election Law and then there are more challenges, we’ll be confused if the MK has decided 1 to 5, there’s another decision. Meanwhile, the MK is final and binding,” said Dasco.
He admitted that each party is still conducting studies, including the Gerindra Party led by President Prabowo Subianto. He stated that the DPR has not set a deadline for starting the discussion of the Election Bill.
“We can’t target it ourselves, it has to be what? Agreement of the factions after they finish. Because the factions of the parties also have some that haven’t,” he said.
Member of the General Elections Commission of the Republic of Indonesia, August Mellaz, said based on the experience of the 2024 election, a duration of 20 to 22 months is already optimal time to run all election stages. Therefore, in the context of the election law revision, the KPU’s main attention is to ensure sufficient time availability, especially for socialisation needs to all parties, both organisers, election participants such as political parties and candidate pairs, and the public as voters.
Coordinating Minister for Law, Human Rights, Immigration, and Correctional Services Yusril Ihza Mahendra said the election law revision is targeted to be completed in 2.5 years of President Prabowo Subianto’s administration. Yusril explained that the target was set considering the preparations needed for the 2029 election.
“Our target is actually for this Bill to be completed at 2.5 years of this administration’s age, so that there is a reasonable timeframe.”