Indonesian lawmakers back election panel delay after selection deadline passes

Selection timetable runs up against legislative delays

New commissioners are due to replace the leadership of the General Elections Commission (KPU) and the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu), whose terms end on April 11, 2027. But Prabowo did not establish the committee to vet candidates by Oct. 12, leaving the appointment process stalled, The Jakarta Post reported.

That deadline comes from Article 22, Paragraph 8 of Law No. 7/2017 on Elections. According to Kompas.id, the law requires selection to start at least six months before the incumbents leave office. For this appointment cycle, the first step was for the president to form the selection team by Oct. 12, 2026.

Lawmakers supporting a delay want the revised General Elections Law in place first. Muhammad Khozin of the pro-government National Awakening Party (PKB) said the legislation would provide the legal basis for recruitment, including any increase in the number of commissioners. "Therefore, ideally, the selection process should begin after the new elections law is passed," he told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

House Commission II Chairman Muhammad Rifqinizamy Karsayuda, whose commission oversees home affairs, also favors waiting. The lawmaker from the pro-government NasDem Party called that the "safest" approach.

The bill remains on the 2026 priority legislative agenda, but repeated delays have pushed the passage target to March 2027. Commission II established a working committee on Sept. 29, 2026, according to Kompas.id; formal deliberations have not yet begun.

More commissioners and a shorter recruitment process

One proposal would give each election body nine members, increasing the KPU's membership from seven and Bawaslu's from five. Ahmad Irawan, a Golkar Party lawmaker on Commission II, said the idea followed a review of the heavy workload during the 2024 simultaneous elections. He emphasized that no final decision had been made.

Commission II is also considering cutting the recruitment period from about six months to two or three months, Irawan said. In his view, a shorter process need not reduce the quality of election organizers.

The revision could also alter membership numbers at the regional level. Irawan said those numbers could vary according to local needs and operational effectiveness rather than follow a uniform rule.

Watchdogs question the delay

Hadar Nafis Gumay, executive director of the election watchdog Netgrit and a former KPU commissioner, opposes postponement. With the draft still at the preparatory stage, he doubts lawmakers can complete the revision by their March 2027 target, Kompas.id reported.

Titi Anggraini, who teaches election law at the University of Indonesia, warned that late appointments could create legal uncertainty, leave an institutional vacuum and allow last-minute political bargaining. She said the selection team should be independent and competent, with women making up at least 30 percent of its membership.

Ethics record and an alternative selection model

The recruitment debate also comes against a record of ethics sanctions. According to Kompas.id, the seven KPU commissioners for the 2022-2027 term were sanctioned through at least 10 decisions by the Honorary Council of Election Organizers (DKPP) between March 2023 and July 2026. Penalties ranged from warnings to permanent dismissal. Bawaslu's five leaders have also received repeated DKPP sanctions since October 2023.

Arya Fernandes, head of the political and social change department at CSIS, has proposed dividing KPU recruitment among three independent channels to limit political monopoly. Under his model, tied to the proposed nine-member KPU, the Constitutional Court, the president and the House would each propose three members.