Zulhas Proposes Regional Elections Be Conducted by DPRD

National Mandate Party (PAN) Chairman Zulkifli Hasan has again proposed that the election of regents and mayors be conducted by the Regional People’s Representative Council (DPRD) instead of through direct elections. He made the statement while attending the Aisyiyah Jamboree for the 109th Milad in Tawangmangu, Karanganyar Regency, Central Java, on Saturday, 27 June 2026. Zulkifli stated that the proposal is motivated by the high political costs in regional head elections, which have the potential to encourage the exploitation of natural resources. He admitted to having conveyed the idea to President Prabowo Subianto. “I proposed to Mr Prabowo, in the future, don’t elect the regent, just elect the DPRD. I proposed it. Many are angry, ‘Wah, the people’s rights will be lost.’ Yes, but rather than the current destruction,” he said. Zulkifli assessed that the cost of running for regent is currently unreasonable, reaching between IDR 50 billion and IDR 100 billion. “Where does the money come from? From those who have money. Once elected, the money owners will collect, ‘Where’s my money?’” he said. He explained that elected regional heads often struggle to repay the funds spent by their political backers. Consequently, permits for natural resource management become a tool to pay off political debts. “In the end, they are given mines, given plantations, given all sorts of things. Land and Mining Business Permits (IUP) are given as a return for the costs of winning the regent or governor election,” he said. According to Zulkifli, this condition contradicts the mandate of Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution, which stipulates that natural resources are controlled by the state and used for the greatest prosperity of the people. “That is it. So we must be self-sufficient, secondly we must control natural resources as per Article 33. Formulated by our fighters, Kasman Singodimedjo, all formulated in Pancasila, that is the meaning of Article 33,” he said. The Coordinating Minister for Food also highlighted the practice of non-transparent mining production reporting, which has the potential to harm the state. “The state owns it, the gold, the coal, the nickel, but the regent gives it to other people, to private individuals. These private individuals pay royalties to the state, pay taxes. They also lie about paying taxes,” he said. Zulkifli claimed to have long been aware of this issue. “Production is 1 million, they report 500,000. Selling abroad at a price of 1,000, they report 500. I have known this for a long time. So if we win, the state must take over! The state becomes the master, the entrepreneurs are the hired workers (contractors), not the owners,” he said. The proposal to return the election of regional heads to the DPRD was previously put forward by the Golkar Party following a national leadership meeting on Saturday, 20 December 2025. The party, which uses the banyan tree as its symbol, reasoned that direct regional elections result in increasingly expensive political costs. To date, political parties supporting the Prabowo administration have stated they are pushing for regional elections to be conducted by the DPRD. Of the eight parties in parliament, only the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) has explicitly rejected the discourse, arguing that regional elections chosen by the DPRD are undemocratic. Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) has assessed that the reasoning that direct regional elections incur large political costs is irrelevant and illogical.