In anticipation for the simultaneous elections of 2019, the government initiated work on the draft for a new electoral law to replace the 2012 law. By August 2016, president Joko Widodo has received the draft law, and the People's Representative Council received it on 21 October the same year. During the discussion of the law, there were disputes over the proposed presidential threshold, with political parties divided into three camps – PDI-P, Golkar and Nasdem supported a higher threshold of 25% legislative vote/20% parliamentary seats, Gerindra, PAN and Demokrat supporting the removal of the threshold, and PKB and PPP supporting a lower threshold of 15% legislative vote/10% parliamentary seats. The draft was voted into law on 20 July 2017. During the voting procedure, opposing parties – Gerindra, PAN, PKS and Demokrat conducted a mass walkout with all their members, which includes three deputy speakers, except for another deputy speakerFahri Hamzah who decided to remain. All remaining parties of the government coalition approved the 20 percent presidential threshold, with Hamzah the only opposition.
Characteristics
Seat distribution
The law mandates an addition of 15 seats to the People's Representative Council, increasing the number to 575 divided across 80 electoral districts with 3-10 seats each, the additions given to provinces outside Java. In addition, the law sets the number of seats for local councils as the following: Provincial:Art. 188
Population
DPRD Seats:
<1 million
35
1-3 million
45
3-5 million
55
5-7 million
65
7-9 million
75
9-11 million
85
11-20 million
100
>20 million
120
Regency/Municipal:Art. 191
Population
DPRD Seats:
<100 thousand
20
100-200 thousand
25
200-300 thousand
30
300-400 thousand
35
400-500 thousand
40
500 thousand-1 million
45
1-3 million
50
3 million
55
The seats are also distributed in electoral districts with 3-12 members each. The law requires these electoral districts to follow the administrative borders of regencies/cities or subdistricts if possible, though partition of a subdivision into multiple districts is allowed if not possible otherwise.:Art. 187,189,192 In total, the law mandated 20,392 non-independent legislative posts – 575 in the People's Representative Council, 2,207 in the Provincial Councils and 17,610 in the Regency/Municipal Councils.
Electoral system
The law maintains the electoral system used in 2014, using the open list system. Voters could vote directly for the candidate they wanted in a list of candidate names presented by party. The candidates are then ranked by vote in their respective parties, and the party's quota is determined through the Webster/Sainte-Laguë method after elimination of parties not meeting the threshold. For presidential candidates, the winning candidate is determined by simple majority, with runoff voting for the top two candidates if no candidates managed to secure a first round majority. In addition, the winning candidate must secure at least 20% of votes in over half of the provinces.:Art. 416
Thresholds
During the previous election, parties are required to pass a parliamentary threshold of 3.5% in order to be represented in the People's Representative Council. The law increased this threshold to 4%. The presidential threshold was decided at the 25%/20% option, in which parties would need a total of 20% legislative seats from the 2014 election, or 25% of the popular vote from 2014. The threshold does not apply to local legislative elections, and all participating parties may win seats in provincial and municipal councils regardless of their total national vote.
Others
The law increased limits to campaign contributions – from Rp 1 billion to Rp 2.5 billion for individuals, and Rp 7.5 billion to Rp 25 billion for legal entities or corporations. In addition, it allowed political parties which participated in the 2014 election to skip party verification, despite the addition of North Kalimantan as a province requiring party offices.
Lawsuit
The law has been challenged in the Constitutional Court. A lawsuit by Vice President Jusuf Kalla on the term limits set by articles 169 and 227 was rejected in June 2018. A judicial review was also submitted regarding the presidential threshold. A lawsuit to article 182, which did not explicitly prohibit political party functionaries to be elected into the Regional Representative Council, won in July 2018.
