JAKARTA - The discourse on the election of regional heads (Pilkada) carried out by the Regional Representative Council (DPRD), not directly by the people, was again echoed by President Prabowo Subianto and the Golkar Party.
In the 2025 I National Leadership Meeting (Rapimnas), Golkar Party Chairman Bahlil Lahadalia recommended that the mechanism for the upcoming election be carried out through the DPRD. The reason is to reduce the burden of political costs.
This proposal received a positive response from President Prabowo in his speech at the 62nd anniversary of Golkar on December 6.
However, this proposal according to a number of observers does not provide a 100 percent guarantee of reducing costs and producing qualified regional heads.
The Executive Director of Indonesia Political Opinion (IPO) Dedi Kurnia Syah said that the election of regional heads by the DPRD only added to the power of political parties.
The discourse on changing the pilkada system from being directly chosen by the people to being chosen by the DPRD has actually surfaced several times. A similar proposal was discussed by the General Chair of the PKB, Muhaimin Iskandar, in a speech celebrating the 27th Anniversary of the PKB in Jakarta on July 23, 2025.
He emphasized that his party wants regional heads to be elected by the central government for the provincial level and elected by the DPRD for districts/cities.
The government has also discussed similar issues. Minister of Home Affairs Tito Karnavian before attending a limited meeting with President Prabowo Subianto at the Presidential Palace, Jakarta, on July 29 explained that there were two options for democratic elections as stipulated in the constitution, namely direct elections and elections through the DPRD. However, the government has so far still studying that option and has not made a final decision.
"Yes, internally we have a meeting. There has been a meeting. We count the pluses and minuses," said Tito.
The government considers that the election by the DPRD is not ruled out. Because in Article 18 Paragraph (4) of the 1945 Constitution it is stated that the governor, regent, and mayor are elected democratically.
This means that there is no restriction that the election is only carried out directly by the people, but it can also be carried out with a representative mechanism, namely the DPRD.
The idea of the regional election by the DPRD has also been expressed several times by President Prabowo. He said that the direct regional election needed to be reviewed because the organization was expensive and there was potential for conflict to accompany it.
In addition, the election process which often ends in the re-vote election (PSU) also sucks up regional budgets. In fact, the PSU in several districts makes the region experience a budget deficit, for example in Bangka Regency.
"In fact, it is not certain that the quality of the elected regional heads is also good. It is better for regional budgets to be used for the benefit of the people, we must rationally see it," said Tito.
Keeping the People AwayDedi Kurnia Syah said that in terms of political governance, it was actually legal if the regional head was elected by the DPRD. However, if this is intended to reduce political costs, in reality it is not.
According to Dedi, this is not a solution to a series of problems in the election of regional heads. Regions, he said, should be independent so that they must be directly chosen by the people, and choosing is the most basic right of the people in a democracy.
"It will further disrupt the supervision of elections if it is chosen by the DPRD, in addition to not eliminating the potential for political money, it will also increase the power of political parties in our executive politics," said Dedi to VOI.
For this reason, according to Dedi, it is the DPRD that needs to be corrected. For example by removing the DPRD institution at the provincial level, because the urgency is considered minimal.
"Local governments and communities are regulated by laws made by the center, then regional affairs are also directly regulated by the city-level DPRD, so the Provincial DPRD is actually not needed in our political governance," said Dedi again.
"As a balance, it is okay if the regional head is determined by the DPR, but that applies to the Governor, because the Governor's power is actually administrative," he continued.
When contacted separately, political observer Pangi Syarwi Chaniago said the system of local head elections by the DPRD even has the potential to make political officials not go down to the people.
"Later there will be officials who do not go down to the people, so far they are diligent in greeting the people because they need votes," said Pangi.
"Tomorrow, officials do not absorb aspirations because they do not need the people's voice, resulting in leaders who are not pro-people, not grounded. This is the biggest disaster and this is not thought of by Prabowo," he added.
Sangsi Penghapusan Money PoliticPangi also questioned whether the change in the election system would really eliminate money politics. According to him, if the election is carried out by the DPRD, he actually sees the potential for transactional politics in the DPRD.
"What must be improved is the issue of money politics, we must find a solution without having to damage the system," he said.
"With the system of pilkada chosen by the DPRD, I am not sure there is no vote buying. So far, political costs have been spread to the people, then yes, just move the money," Pangi explained.
Similarly, the Coordinator of the Indonesian Voter Committee (Tepi Indonesia) Jeirry Sumampow also did not support the DPRD's plan for the election. According to him, this could eliminate the public's right to directly choose their regional leaders. Public participation that was built since the reform era will collapse.
Not only that, this discourse is a step backwards and dangerous for Indonesian democracy. Moreover, the Constitutional Court's ruling which confirms the separation of national and regional elections with a period of up to 2.5 years is ignored.
"When the regional election is carried out by the DPRD, there will be money politics that will shift to a more hidden scale, where every vote of the DPRD member will become a commodity of expensive political transactions that are difficult to monitor. So, the argument about cost efficiency is an illusion," said Jeirry.
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