Indonesian Lawmakers Divided Over Timing of KPU-Bawaslu Selection

Selection team's status remains unclear

The current Election Law requires the president to establish a selection team by presidential decree at least six months before the terms of General Election Commission (KPU) and Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) members expire. Their terms end on April 11, 2027, putting the appointment deadline at October 11, 2026.

Kompas reported that the Ministry of Home Affairs wrote to President Prabowo Subianto about that requirement well before the deadline. Mardani Ali Sera, a PKS member of Commission II who also serves on the Election Bill working committee, has said Prabowo already signed the decree, but the team has not been publicly announced.

Deputy Minister of State Secretary Juri Ardiantoro has said the government remains committed to Law No. 7/2017 on Elections and would establish the team within the statutory deadline. He also said numerous names had been proposed and would be considered.

Asked about the team after a Cabinet session on October 21, Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian told Kompas only, "Later." Akmal Malik, the ministry's director general of politics and general administration, did not respond to a request for comment on October 26.

How the law revision could affect selection

Commission II established its working committee for the Election Law revision on September 29, 2026, with a target of enacting the legislation by March 2027, according to Kompas.

Golkar lawmaker Ahmad Doli Kurnia, a member of Commission II and the Election Bill special committee, opposes forming the selection team at this stage. He said he had not received information about the Home Ministry's letter. His concern is that candidates would be tested on a law that is about to change, rather than the rules they would be responsible for implementing.

Doli offered two alternatives: issue a government regulation in lieu of law, known as a perppu, to amend the six-month requirement, or establish the team now while coordinating the selection schedule with completion of the revised law.

Under the second approach, assessors could spend more time examining candidates' integrity, intellectual capacity, leadership and communication skills before testing their understanding of the finalized law. Doli said selection must also evaluate electoral knowledge, including concepts, theory and the technical work of administering elections.

Commission II Chairman Muhammad Rifqinizamy Karsayuda outlined a similar choice. The government could form the team under the current law but wait until the revised law passes to submit candidate names to the House. Alternatively, it could wait for enactment before establishing the team, an option he described as the safest legally and technically.

Komarudin Watubun of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), who serves on Commission II and the Election Bill special committee, argued that existing rules remain binding until replaced. Changing them after selection has begun, he warned, could create legal complications and allow interested parties to manipulate the timetable.

Proposals for larger commissions and new recruitment channels

Komarudin also pointed to plans to expand the KPU through the revision. On October 23, Golkar's Ahmad Irawan, another Commission II member, described a proposal to increase KPU membership from seven to nine and Bawaslu membership from five to seven or nine. He said the proposal followed an evaluation of the heavy workload during the 2024 simultaneous elections.

Irawan said the House also plans to reduce the selection period, including its fit-and-proper test, to about three months.

Arya Fernandes, head of politics and social change at CSIS, proposed changing who recruits KPU members. His model, similar to recruitment for Constitutional Court justices or members of the Election Organizer Ethics Council (DKPP), would divide nominations for an expanded nine-member KPU among three institutions: three from the Constitutional Court, three from the president and three from the House.

The Civil Society Coalition for the Codification of Election Laws said expanding KPU membership is not urgent. Feri Amsari of Themis warned that adding seats to represent political parties or the government could conflict with the constitutional guarantee of independent election administration.

Calls for public scrutiny and independent selection

The coalition urged Prabowo to disclose the selection team's membership promptly and allow public participation throughout the process. It opposed postponement to await the revised law, including through a perppu, and said all selection stages should follow the law currently in force.

In the coalition's assessment, secrecy and delay threaten legal certainty, electoral integrity and the independence of election officials. It warned that unclear schedules, assessment standards and reasons for decisions could enable political intervention and patronage.

Perludem researcher Iqbal Kholidin said on October 23 that the government had exceeded the legal deadline by more than ten days. He warned that further delay would leave the public less time to examine candidates' records and increase the risk of a rushed selection.

The coalition also cited problems in previous elections, including numerous disputes over results and concerns about law enforcement and the integrity of national and regional election officials. Haykal of the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) said improvements must start with an honest, fair and high-quality selection committee. Agus Suwarno of Transparency International Indonesia warned that an opaque process could produce commissioners who lack independence, weakening election quality and public trust.

The debate comes against a record of ethics sanctions. Kompas reported that KPU commissioners serving in 2022-2027, who were selected under Law No. 7/2017, received sanctions in at least 10 DKPP rulings between March 2023 and July 2026. Penalties ranged from warnings to permanent dismissal. Bawaslu's five leaders have also faced repeated sanctions since October 2023.

Constitutional law lecturer Titi Anggraini called for an independent, competent selection team with at least 30 percent women's representation. She said disclosure should cover every stage: announcements, criteria, candidates' records, test results and explanations of why each candidate passed or failed.