The Importance of the Election Bill as the Main Foundation of Democracy

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The House of Representatives (DPR) has yet to revise Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections (Pemilu), which is described as the main foundation of democracy in Indonesia.

The Election Bill as the main foundation of democracy was stated by Saleh Partaonan Daulay, Deputy General Chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN).

“The Election Bill is the main foundation for implementing democracy in Indonesia. The fairness or otherwise of election implementation begins with how far the Election Bill is drafted,” Saleh said in his statement on Thursday (23/4/2026).

However, he acknowledged that the drafting is not easy due to the many interests of political parties.

Moreover, the Election Law will also regulate the formation of organisers to the counting and determination of election results.

“Each party has interests. It is not easy to discuss it,” Saleh said.

If the government takes the initiative, differences in views between political parties can still be accommodated in the discussion stage of the list of problem inventories (DIM).

“Given the breadth of the discussion themes and the limited time remaining, the discussion of the Election Bill should be carried out on the government’s initiative. If based on the government’s initiative, the struggle of thoughts and political party agendas can be avoided at the beginning of the discussion,” Saleh said.

He added that broad public involvement in the drafting of the Election Bill, including religious figures, academics, to civil society organisations, is also important to be carried out.

“Everyone must be involved. This is what is meant by meaningful participation. No one should be left out or abandoned,” Saleh said.

Because the parliamentary threshold in the past has caused several problems, such as the effectiveness of work in the DPR, wasted people’s votes, to parties that did not pass the PT.