PPP Prepares Strong Legal Team Ahead of 2029 General Election
Former Constitutional Court Chief Justice Hamdan Zoelva has said the United Development Party (PPP) remains necessary in Indonesia’s political landscape. He described PPP as a party inherited from the ulama that continues the struggle of Islamic parties from before Indonesia’s independence.
Hamdan made the remarks while attending the PPP’s National Coordination Meeting on Legal Affairs at the Grand Mercure Harmoni in Jakarta on Thursday, 20 August 2026. According to him, PPP has a clear footing in both Islamic struggle and nationalism.
“I feel PPP is important and must continue to exist. This party is a legacy of the ulama, an Islamic party that is indeed the successor of Islamic parties from before independence,” he said.
According to Hamdan, PPP needs to immediately strengthen consolidation now that the party’s leadership dispute has been resolved. Legal matters, he said, should be handled by a legal team so as not to disrupt the work of the chairman and party officials in preparing for the 2029 General Election.
“So the chairman continues consolidation because the biggest task is facing the upcoming election,” he said.
Hamdan said PPP still has about three years to strengthen its organisational foundation before the 2029 General Election. Once the organisational foundation is complete, the party needs to reactivate political movements across all regions.
“The foundation must be settled first. This is only the most basic foundation. After that, movement activation must be carried out. PPP still has three years,” Hamdan added.
Prepare Legal Team Guidelines
In addition to organisational consolidation, Hamdan reminded that PPP needs to prepare legal instruments well before the 2029 General Election stages begin. According to him, election issues can arise from participant registration, legislative candidate nomination, campaigning, voting, to the determination of seat allocations.
Therefore, PPP’s legal team needs to have clear implementation guidelines to deal with various issues at each stage. These guidelines must contain steps that cadres need to take when encountering problems, including how to report, collect, and secure evidence.
“The legal team must prepare the guidelines from now. Guidelines must be made for PPP cadres: how to deal with problem A, deal with problem B, and what must be observed,” said Hamdan.
According to him, oversight should not only begin when a dispute has already occurred. Issues must be handled as early as possible through available mechanisms. If a violation occurs during an election stage, for example, the party can pursue mechanisms at the Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu). Ethical issues involving election organisers can be reported to the Election Organiser Ethics Council (DKPP). Meanwhile, certain disputes can proceed to the Administrative Court (PTUN).
Hamdan said the Constitutional Court should be the last resort in the series of election dispute resolutions. Before bringing a case to the Constitutional Court, the party must ensure that resolution mechanisms at previous levels have been pursued.
“What the Constitutional Court asks is, has it been checked with Bawaslu or not? If not, the Constitutional Court will reject it. The Constitutional Court is for residual matters,” Hamdan said.
He said the election process is a long series that requires legal oversight from the lowest level. Therefore, PPP advocates and legal experts need to understand every stage in order to safeguard the party’s vote tally up to the constitutional-level resolution process.
Mardiono: PPP Must Be Solid
PPP Chairman Muhamad Mardiono said his party will continue to strengthen consolidation ahead of the 2029 General Election.
According to him, PPP must learn from the 2024 election experience and build a more solid, orderly, and data-based organisation.
“Elections must not be prepared only a few months before voting day. The structure must also be ready, witnesses must be ready, data must be ready, the IT system must be ready, and the legal team must be ready,” he said.
Mardiono said PPP has continued consolidation after the September 2025 congress through regional consultations in 38 provinces and branch consultations in 514 regencies and cities. The sub-branch consultation process at the district level is still ongoing.
PPP has also formed several bodies to face the 2029 General Election, including the National Election Victory Board, the National IT Board, the National Asset and Administration Board, and the National Advocacy Team.
According to Mardiono, the advocacy team will be strengthened down to the regional level. One focus is securing evidence of vote counting results from polling stations.
Every PPP witness, he said, must be able to receive, examine, document, and store vote counting results. That data will later become part of a system integrated with the party’s structure and legal team.
“We must not find out about a problem after everything is finished, while evidence at the polling station level is incomplete or not properly documented. Going forward, every vote must have a data trail and every problem must have evidence,” he said.
Mardiono said the 2024 election experience showed the importance of strengthening structure, information systems, and legal instruments. PPP obtained 8,087,958 votes at the regency/city level, 6,460,173 votes at the provincial level, and 5,878,777 votes or 3.87 percent at the national level in the 2024 election.
Therefore, he asked all cadres to maintain solidarity during the consolidation process. According to Mardiono, a strong structure is needed so that information from the grassroots can be immediately received and acted upon by the party.
“Today’s politics requires speed. But speed without data will produce errors. Data without a system will be scattered. A system without human resources will not run,” Mardiono said.
He said the improvements are not only for facing the 2029 General Election, but also for building a more modern and well-organised party system.
“What we are building is not only readiness to face the election, but also a more modern and orderly party system,” he said.