Circumventing Direct Regional Elections: Democracy on the Brink

Bayu Nugroho

Contributor

11 Feb 2026 · 00:00 11 February 2026 00:00 WIB 6 minutes reading time: 6 minutes 10 read

The discourse on changing the regional head election mechanism from direct to indirect through the Regional People's Representative Council (DPRD) has been ongoing for a long time.

Mekanisme pilkada langsung kembali dipertanyakan, memicu perdebatan tentang representasi dan demokrasi. (Source: AI Gemini, Redaksi Literasi Hukum Indonesia)

Opinion Note

This opinion article was written by a contributor/columnist. The views expressed are entirely the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the editors.

CONTRIBUTOR PROGRAM

You can become a columnist at Legal Literacy.

Submit your legal opinion/analysis writing. If it is published, you have the opportunity to obtain a payout/honorarium in accordance with the provisions.

Submit Article Read Guidelines

Table of Contents

Resurfacing
Reading the Attitudes of Political Parties in Parliament
Pros and Cons of Regional Head Elections Through the DPRD

Section 3/3: Pros and Cons of Regional Head Elections Through the DPRD

Pros and Cons of Regional Head Elections Through the DPRD

Referring to the results of surveys conducted by several survey institutions regarding the pros and cons of regional head elections through the DPRD, the conclusion is that many people reject the proposal. Litbang Kompas in its survey stated that 85.1% of respondents rejected regional head elections through the DPRD and only 11.6% supported it. Meanwhile, a survey conducted by LSI Denny JA obtained results in the form of 66.1% of respondents disagreeing, 28.6% agreeing and 5.3% not knowing.

The reasons behind this rejection are influenced by several factors, including that direct elections are the best way to choose the leaders desired by the people and to uphold democracy from the people, for the people and by the people. Meanwhile, the majority of respondents or community groups who reject the proposal for indirect regional elections through the DPRD are dominated by the Millennial Generation and GEN – Z, namely the generation born after the reform era and the implementation of direct elections.

Seeing the large number of rejections to this indirect regional election discourse should be a special concern for the government. Don't let this decision create segregation in society that could lead to division. The product of direct elections is a mandate of reform that must be upheld and cannot be taken by force. The reason for changing the mechanism by saying thatcost expensive politics and high money politics in society is a failure of political parties to provide political education to the public.

Direct democracy is a manifestation of community involvement in determining the candidacy and also the election of figures who are considered capable of leading them. So that the elected regional head gets direct legitimacy from the community itself. If the indirect regional election process is successfully ratified or approved, then the process ofcheck and balances and public accountability becomes weak.

Then the process of accountability for the position held ultimately does not go to the public anymore, but to the DPRD which elects the regional head. This is clearly a form of amputation of community involvement in the political process and taking away the community's right to choose their leaders. The government in responding to this must be wise and pay attention to every proposal that comes in, especially from civil society groups. Because, this one decision will affect the legitimacy of leadership in the region.