PDI Perjuangan Legislator Urges Discussion of Election Law Revision This Year

A member of the House of Representatives’ Commission II from the PDI Perjuangan faction, Hendra Rahtomo or Romy Soekarno, stated that the revision of Law Number 7 of 2017 on Elections (Election Law) needs to be discussed this year. For him, elections must not be overhauled hastily just before the election stages. “The earlier it is discussed, the better the quality of public participation, academic studies, technical simulations, and political consensus that can be built,” he said when contacted on Sunday, 26 April 2026.

Romy stated that the revision of the Election Law must be positioned as an agenda to strengthen popular sovereignty and improve the quality of democracy. It should also ensure that elections do not become a space for overly expensive political liberalisation, transactional practices, and outcomes far from the people’s will. “The revision of the Election Law must not be seen merely as an electoral technical matter, especially not just for the short-term interests of political parties,” he said.

He mentioned that the General Chairman of PDI Perjuangan (PDIP), Megawati Soekarnoputri, emphasised that elections must not become a mechanism for buying power. Elections should be the constitutional path to selecting leaders and people’s representatives. “Leaders who possess ideology, track records, integrity, and commitment to the nation’s interests,” he stated.

According to him, there are several important issues to be discussed in the revision of the Election Law. First, the legislative election system. This system needs evaluation to determine whether it truly strengthens political parties as instruments of ideological struggle, or instead makes competition too individualistic, expensive, and opens the door to money politics. “I urge that political parties be strengthened again as institutions for cadre development, not merely as electoral vehicles,” he said.

Second, the parliamentary threshold. According to him, the principle of the threshold is still needed to maintain the effectiveness of the presidential system and prevent extreme political fragmentation. However, he said, its size must be reviewed objectively, proportionately, and based on democratic interests.

Third, regulations on presidential and vice-presidential candidacy following the Constitutional Court’s decision regarding the presidential threshold. He said the law must adjust to that constitutional ruling. However, it still needs to be formulated so that the presidential contest remains of high quality. “Not merely crowded with the number of candidates, but strong in terms of national vision, leadership capacity, and responsible political support,” he stated.

Fourth, political financing and campaign funds. According to him, this issue is very crucial. If political costs are not controlled, democracy could be dominated by capital owners. “There needs to be strengthening of campaign fund transparency, stricter audits, realistic limits on campaign spending, and firm sanctions against money politics,” he said.

Fifth, strengthening election organisers. The KPU, Bawaslu, and DKPP, he said, must be bolstered in terms of integrity, technological capacity, independence, and accountability. “Future elections must be more transparent, more efficient, and more trusted by the public,” he said.

Sixth, gradual digitalisation of elections. According to him, discussions need to begin on modernising elections, from updating voter data based on Dukcapil, transparent electronic recapitulation systems, digital audits, to the use of technology to prevent manipulation. “However, digitalisation must be done carefully, gradually, securely, and still guarantee the principles of direct, general, free, secret, honest, and fair elections,” he said.

Seventh, the design of synchronised national and regional elections. Discussions need to evaluate the technical burden, the burden on organisers, voter participation, and the quality of election results. He does not want synchronisation to be merely efficient in scheduling. “But to weaken the quality of democracy and politically fatigue the people,” he said.

On Wednesday, 15 April 2025, a member of Commission II of the House of Representatives, Ahmad Doli Kurnia Tandjung, stated that the discussion of the Election Law revision should have been held on Monday, 13 April 2026. The Golkar Party politician claimed he did not know the reason for the postponement of the Commission II agenda, which was scheduled to hold an internal meeting to hear a presentation from the Council Expertise Agency or BKD.

In fact, according to him, the discussion of the Election Law revision is a very important matter considering the approaching election timeline. For example, he said, the Constitutional Court decisions concerning several electoral issues. In particular, Doli said, Decision Number 135 which separates the holding of elections.

Based on the current applicable law, the government should start forming the election organiser selection team 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 House leadership and political parties to immediately set a serious discussion schedule.

In the revision of the Election Law, he mentioned that there are at least ten main issues to be discussed. Five of them are classic issues, namely the election system (whether to remain with open proportional, return to closed, or use 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 suppress practices such as money politics and vote buying, the use of digital systems in election stages, institutional reform of election organisers such as KPU, Bawaslu, and DKPP, up to 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. The daily chairman of the Gerindra Party reasoned that the House wants to produce perfect regulations to minimise lawsuits to the Constitutional Court. “The Election Law has been back and forth…”