Safeguarding the Spirit of Women's Affirmation in the 2029 Election

The Constitutional Court’s Decision Number 128/PUU-XXIV/2026 deserves a positive welcome from all parties, especially political parties and democracy activists. The ruling sends a message about the importance of implementing the affirmative policy of a minimum of 30 percent female representation in the candidacy for legislative members, as stipulated in Article 245 of Law Number 7 of 2017 on Elections. This decision is not merely a technical electoral matter, but a crucial part of strengthening the quality of Indonesia’s inclusive and just democracy. The affirmative policy for women is a mandate of political reform that has been continuously fought for since the beginning of the reform era. The presence of women in the political sphere is not simplified to just a quantitative figure, but also relates to the justice of representation and equal involvement in public decision-making processes. Therefore, this Constitutional Court ruling must be read as an important step to ensure the spirit of affirmative action is truly implemented consistently in the upcoming 2029 Election. A sufficient number of women in representative institutions is indeed no guarantee of substantive representation. However, as Anne Phillips noted in The Politics of Presence (1995), without that presence, women’s representation would only be a shot in the dark, with a much smaller chance of success compared to when women are present and participating in political decision-making. The ruling also complements a previous Constitutional Court decision, namely Decision Number 169/PUU-XXII/2024, which ordered the filling of council complementary organs (AKD) with attention to 30 percent female representation. If the previous ruling affirmed the importance of women’s representation within the parliamentary structure, this latest decision strengthens the foundation from the candidacy stage. These two decisions must be interpreted inherently, from the candidacy process, election, to placement in the AKD. This MK ruling must be read as meaning that the placement of women’s representation is not merely a complement to democracy, but an important part of democracy itself. A healthy democracy is not just about presenting electoral competition per se, but ensuring a fair participation space for all citizens, including women. Affirmation is Not a Formality. This 30 percent affirmative policy cannot be placed solely on one party’s shoulders. It is a shared task for all stakeholders, including political parties which bear a great responsibility as recruiting institutions for political office. Consequently, political parties are required to build systematic and sustainable female cadre development. Likewise, women activists and civil society organizations have an important role in overseeing the implementation of this affirmative policy. Strengthening women’s political capacity, political education, and mentoring for female cadres must continue to be expanded so that affirmation does not stop at mere formal numbers. Nevertheless, it must be underscored that the 30 percent affirmative policy cannot stand alone. The issue of women’s representation in elections is related to the design of the electoral system in use. The voting system, vote counting mechanism, and the determination of electoral districts have a major influence on women’s electability chances. This situation was also captured by Melanie M. Hughes et al. (2017) in Gender Quotas for Legislatures and Corporate Boards, which stated that affirmation policies in elections cannot stand alone but are related to other features in the electoral system. In the context of elections in Indonesia with an open-list proportional system, the challenges for women in political contests become far more complex. This system provides space for direct competition between candidates within a single party, but simultaneously creates high competition and popularity battles that are often unfriendly towards female candidates. Consequently, this MK ruling only targets the candidacy stage, whereas other stages directly correlate with the 30 percent representation spirit, namely the election stage itself. The application of the open-list proportional system intertwines with the political challenges for women to actually be elected as legislative members, which remains difficult. Nevertheless, from a quantitative perspective, women’s representation in parliament during the reform era shows an increasing trend. Although it has not reached the ideal figure of 30 percent, developments show that affirmative policies have a positive impact on women’s involvement in politics. Election data during the reform era reveals an upward trend in parliamentary representation. In the 1999 Election, female representation in the DPR only reached 8.8 percent, rising to 11.8 percent after the policy was initially implemented in 2004, then to 17.8 percent in 2009. It dipped to 17.3 percent in 2014 before rising again to 20.8 percent in 2019 and reaching 21.3 percent in 2024. Learning from the 2024 Election Polemic. The quantitative figure of women’s representation in parliament carries two simultaneous meanings: affirmative action has proven to drive increased representation, but the increase tends to be slow, thus requiring stronger regulation and more serious political commitment. The polemic surrounding the 30 percent representation in the 2024 Election serves as an important lesson. This controversy was triggered by Article 8, paragraph (2) of PKPU Number 10 of 2023 concerning the rounding formula for the number of female legislative candidates in each electoral district, where the calculation of 30 percent produced a decimal.