DPR Commission II: Proposal For Regional Head Elections To Be Elected By DPRD Part Of Election Evaluation

JAKARTA - Member of Commission II of the DPR RI, Muhammad Khozin responded to the proposed regional head elections (Pilkada) chosen by the DPRD. According to him, this proposal is part of an evaluation for the improvement of the election.

"An idea, pilkada through the DPRD has been thrown to the public. In a democratic country, dialectics over an idea are important things to happen. This is where the participation space appears," said Khozin, Friday, August 1.

Meanwhile, the National Awakening Party (PKB) proposes that the election for governors be elected by the central government or president, while regional heads of regents/mayors are elected through the DPRD.

"This proposal is part of the reflection and evaluation of the implementation of the direct regional elections that have been carried out since 20 years ago (2005)," said Khozin.

Therefore, evaluation is considered important to be carried out as an effort to improve the process of democratization in the regions. Moreover, said Khozin, the constitution provides guidance that regional heads are elected democratically.

"So, whether the regional elections are carried out directly, appointed by the president or elected through the DPRD, the most important thing is to do it democratically," he said.

Khozin added that the governor's argument appointed by the President could not be separated from the concept of deconcentration in which the provincial government was essentially the representative of the central government. This point is also emphasized in Law No. 23/2014 on Regional Government.

"This means that this idea was not born out of vacuum and was not based on regional autonomy concepts or deconcentration. This idea also has absolutely no correlation with the authority of the Constitutional Court, purely as an effort to find an ideal formula in regional head elections," said Khozin.

According to the member of the House of Representatives commission in charge of domestic government affairs and elections, it has not seen any factions in parliament who reject or support the PKB proposal. Because, said Khozin, this proposal has not been officially discussed by factions or in Commission II of the DPR.

"Because it has not been discussed formally, of course it is not yet known who rejects and supports it. As an idea, it is certainly open to discussion by various parties, including from the wider community," said Khozin.

"This point is important as part of the principle of meanful participation in the formation of legislation," added Khozin.

The idea of changing the pilkada model, continued Khozin, has actually been rolled out by various parties, both from political parties and from civil society groups such as NU in the 2012 National Conference, regional elections through the DPRD. So this idea is not a new discourse.

In fact, said Khozin, in 2014 there was Law No. 22 of 2014 concerning Pilkada, namely the regional election with a scheme chosen by the DPRD. However, at that time, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) issued Perppu Number 1 of 2014 concerning the Pilkada Perppu.

"That today PKB is again discussing the idea, once again, being born not in a vacuum by paying attention to the constitutional/hyuridical, sociological, and philosophical aspects, based on the spirit of improving our electoral policy in the future," explained Khozin.

Khozin also revealed developments regarding the discussion of the Constitutional Court's (MK) decision regarding the separation of national and regional elections. He said that this discussion was intensively communicated internally between factions in the DPR RI.

"Formally in parliament, of course it has not been carried out, because the forum will be discussed in the discussion of changes to the Election Election Pilkada/UU Law. But informally, we have discussed alternative options for the regional election model internally and between factions in parliament," concluded the legislator from the East Java electoral district IV Jember - Lumajang.