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Siti Sarah, Sri Suatmiati
GENERAL ELECTION SYSTEM IN INDONESIA BASED ON LAW OF THE
REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA NO. 7 OF 2017
Siti Sarah
1
, Sri Suatmiati
2
Muhammadiyah University of Palembang
Email : Sittisar[email protected], ibunda.srisuatmiati@gmail.com.
Abstract
Each country claims that the system of government administration or the political system they build is a
democracy. Indonesia is a country that bases its sovereignty on the people's sovereignty in addition to the
basis of the rule of law to organize a democratic government by carrying out general elections using a
separate system in legislative elections (DPR, DPD, Provincial DPRD, and Regency/City DPRD). The
electoral system in Indonesia is inseparable from the recruitment function in the political system. The
problem raised in this research is how is the general election system in Indonesia based on Law Number
7 of 2017 concerning General Elections, and what are the weaknesses of the open proportional system
used in public elections in Indonesia? This research belongs to the normative legal research group
prioritizes secondary data (library data and legislation). The nature of this research uses a descriptive-
analytical method that describes the actual situation. The result of the study is that the general election
system in Indonesia uses an Open Proportional System for the election of members of the Legislative
Assembly (DPR, Provincial DPRD, and Regency/City DPRD) as stipulated in Article 168 paragraph (2)
of Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning General Elections, while in section (3) specifies that the election to
elect members of the DPD shall be carried out with a district system with many representatives. The
disadvantages of using an open proportional system include that it is difficult for parties to integrate or
cooperate by taking advantage of existing equations; this system facilitates party fragmentation; when a
conflict arises within the party, it will be easy to break up, which often gives birth to new parties; this
system gives the party leader an extreme position; the elected representatives may be separated from their
constituents due to not knowing each other; and because of the large number of competing parties, it is
difficult for a party to gain the majority in parliament needed to form a strong government.
Keywords: Election, Democracy, Open Proportional System, Indonesia
INTRODUCTION
The practice of having presidential and vice-presidential elections, which began in 2004 and
continued until 2014, occurs periodically or following legislative elections. The results of legislative
elections (the parliamentary threshold) may be used as a reference/ticket to nominate a presidential
candidate with a predefined threshold if a grace period is introduced. (Muslimin et al., 2021)
General Elections involving both Presidential and parliamentary elections; elections for House
of Representative (DPR), Regional Representative Council (DPD), and Regional House of
Representatives (DPRD); are manifestations of the mandate specified in the 1945 Constitution of the
United States Article 1 2 of the Constitution of Indonesia, which states: "sovereignty resides within the
hands of the people and following the Constitution." (Prawira, 2019). General elections as a symbol of
the implementation of democracy are typical in democratic nations. Elections hold to select candidates
who, if elected, will serve as the people's representatives. (Rannie, 2020)
Law Number, seven the Year 2017 on General Elections, declares that the criteria governing the
presidential nomination threshold – 20% of the seats in the House of Representatives (DPR) or 25% of
the total number of valid votes cast in the 2014 election – are not following UUD NRI 1945. Contrary
to article 6A paragraph (2), article 22E paragraph (1), article 27 paragraph (1), article 28D paragraph
(1), and article 28D paragraph (3) of UUD NRI 1945, article 222 does not provide public choice freedom
(Sabrina & Ristawati, 2021).
In a democratic nation, elections are significant because they relate to three primary functions
(Labolo & Ilham, 2015) : (1) Political legitimacy; through elections, the legitimacy of the government
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Indonesia No. 7 Of 2017
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or the ruler confirm, as the elected government is essentially the choice of the majority of sovereign
citizens. (2) Movement among the political elite. With elections, the circulation or replacement of the
power elite carries out more evenly, as the voters directly select who is a member of the political elite
and who is not. (3) Political training. Elections aim to educate citizens on their political rights and
responsibilities. Participating in the election implementation process envisaged that citizens will learn
how to participate in the democratic system directly (Rahmat & Junaedi, 2021).
The General Elections Regulations (Pemilu) have undergone numerous modifications since
Indonesia's independence. First, Law No. 12 of 1946 Concerning Renewal of Central National
Committee, which regulates the election of Central National Committee members, is the first legislation
in Indonesia governing the conduct of elections (Law No. 12 of 1946) (Ramdani & Arisandi, 2014).
Second, Law No. 12 of 1946 was repealed and replaced by Law No. 27 of 1948 (Law No. 27 of 1948),
which regulates the composition and election of the People's Representative Council, and Law No. 12
of 1949 was enacted. Thirdly, the government of Indonesia passed Law No. 7 of 1953, sometimes
known as the Election Law (Sunarso et al., 2022).
Consequently, parliamentary elections utilize the open proportional and district electoral systems
with numerous candidates (Wartoyo & Tungga, 2019). According to (Al-Hamdi et al., 2022) the open
proportional; system has three significant drawbacks. First, the system imposes a substantial strain on
the Electoral Management Bodies, particularly in providing qualified personnel. There are detailed
explanations here; 1) the Electoral Management Bodies are overburdened before, during, and after the
election, particularly the Electoral Management Bodies officers at the polling stations (TPS) on day D
of the election (voting process and vote count) and recapitulation process; 2) the system tends to
prioritize administrative and technical issues over substantive issues such as voter education; 3) the
system requires capable officers, but it is not supported by pieces of training and coaching, while the
Electoral Management Bodies tend to focus on technical preparations; 4) violations are increasing in a
variety of patterns, and 5) the system requires a large budget for technical and administrative issues, but
the budget is inefficient.
Second is the emergence of money in politics and the rise of defective ballots. Money politics is
produced by free competition, and society maintains that it is a standard component of electoral culture.
The community can collaborate with the candidates to accomplish this mutually beneficial task. In
addition, the candidates fear that they will not be elected if they do not conduct themselves in this
manner. It is also vital to remember that bribery of EMBs, particularly at the grassroots level, is possible
due to their poor salaries and lack of honesty.
Furthermore, several listed candidates affect the confused voters and the increasing number of
invalid ballots. In conclusion, candidates, not parties, are responsible for hefty campaign expenses. It
results in candidate-centric politics as opposed to party-centric politics.
Third, there is a lack of party allegiance and ineffective party cauterization. It can observe in the
following examples: 1) The lack of commitment is caused by open-list PR, which is more akin to
candidate-centered politics than party-centered politics. The impact is that a politician can switch from
one party to another; 2) financial capital is more influential in winning an elected candidate than
personal capacity; 3) the party's lack of institutionalization causes the rise of party personalization, and
4) fragmentation occurs not only among political parties but also among candidates within the party.
As a result, candidates within the party have a discordant relationship; 5) internal conflict among
candidates within the party fighting for votes in the same constituency can cause the party's vote to
decrease; 6) political education within the party is not working effectively because candidate victory is
frequently stimulated not by political skills but by financial capital (Al-Hamdi et al., 2022).
Considering the preceding studies, the open system elections difficulties in this investigation are
1) the system imposes a substantial strain on the Electoral Management Bodies, particularly in providing
qualified personnel; 2) Second is the emergence of money in politics and the rise of defective ballots;
3) there is a lack of party allegiance and ineffective party cauterization.
RESEARCH METHOD
This study conducts utilizing a normative methodology (Diantha & SH, 2016). Thus, the research
categorized type of normative juridical research to analyze and test aspects of the legal perspective
Siti Sarah, Sri Suatmiati
General Election System In Indonesia Based On Law Of The Republic Of
Indonesia No. 7 Of 2017
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p-ISSN
2774-5147
related to the general election system in Indonesia based on Law Number 7 of 2017 regarding General
Elections and various weaknesses of the open proportional system implemented in Indonesia based on
Law Number 7 of 2017 regarding General Elections
RESULT AND DISCUSSION
A. General Election System in Indonesia following the Provisions of Law No. 7 of the Republic of
Indonesia on General Elections (2017).
Based on the results of the author's research conducted to answer the first question, it
determined that the General Election system used in the implementation of elections in Indonesia is
an open proportional system, as stipulated in Article 168 paragraph (2) of Law Number 7 of 2017
concerning General Elections (Najih, 2018). Meanwhile, paragraph (3) states, "Elections for DPD
members conducts using a multi-representation district system." Then, according to Article 185 of
Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections, "The creation of electoral districts for members of the
DPR, Provincial DPRD, and Regency/City DPRD takes into account the following principles:" letter
c "Adherence to a proportional election system." The purpose of this provision, as stated in the
Explanation of Electoral Law No. 7 of 2017, Letter b, complies with the formation of constituencies
by prioritizing a large number of seats so that the proportion of seats obtained by each political party
is as close as possible to the ratio of valid votes obtained.
Indonesia's electoral system has shifted from a closed-list PR system to an open-list PR
system. According to Article 6 paragraph (1) of Law No. 12 of 2003 Concerning the General
Election of Members of the DPR, DPD, and DPRD, the open propositional system went into effect
for the 2004 general elections (Aspinall, 2014). According to Article 6 paragraph 2 of Law No. 12
of 2003, the 2004 general elections conducts using the District method for the election of DPD
members. Moreover, in 2009, the electoral system outlined in Article 5 paragraphs (1) and (2) of
Law Number 10 of 2008 concerning the Election of Members of the DPR, Provincial DPRD, and
Regency/City DPRD utilized an open propositional system. In contrast, the election of DPD
members continues to use a district system with numerous representatives (Setyagama, 2020).
In a proportional electoral system, the state's territory serves as a single constituency.
Nevertheless, because of the country's vast size and population, the region is divided into electoral
districts (for example, the province into one const more ituency). A set number of contestable seats
are allocated to these constituencies based on the size of the constituency, the number of residents,
political factors, etc. In this instance, it is clear that than one seat will be contested, and the residual
votes from one constituency cannot be combined with the remaining ballots from other
constituencies; hence, this system refers to as a Multy-member Constituency (Bardovič, 2017).
B. Weaknesses of Indonesia's Open Proportional System in Conducting General Elections
From the results of the author's research conducted in response to the concerns of these two
theses, the following identifies as shortcomings in the use of the open proportional system in
elections :
1. This system does not encourage parties to integrate or cooperate in capitalizing on existing
similarities; instead, it tends to accentuate disparities.
2. This system aids in the fragmentation of political parties. If a dispute emerges within a political
party, its members tend to secede and form a new party.
3. The proportional system provides the party leader with a prominent position.
4. The elected representative will likely have a fragile relationship with his constituents.
5. It is difficult for a party to obtain the parliamentary majority required to create a government
when there are many competing parties.
As the author argues below, the open proportional system's flaw is that it does not
encourage parties to integrate or cooperate and take advantage of the existing equations. This
system aids in the fragmentation of political parties. The proportional system gives the party
leadership a strong position through the list system, as the party leadership determines the list of
candidates; the elected deputy is likely to have a tenuous relationship with his constituents; and
if a conflict arises within a party, its members tend to break away and form a new party. Due to
Siti Sarah, Sri Suatmiati
General Election System In Indonesia Based On Law Of The Republic Of
Indonesia No. 7 Of 2017
e-ISSN 2774-5155
p-ISSN
2774-5147
the vast number of competing parties, it will be difficult for a party to obtain the majority of votes
required to form a government (50 percent plus one vote) in parliament. An open proportional
election system allows voters to choose whichever candidate they like. Legislative candidates
who receive the most votes from voters are elected. Election observers widely suggest this system
because it is viewed as more democratic and will result in greater public participation. The
rationale is that voters select their representatives directly.
CONCLUSION
Following Article 168 paragraph (2) of Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning General Elections,
the open proportional system is utilized to conduct elections in Indonesia. Editor of Article 168,
paragraph 2: "Elections to elect members of the DPR, Provincial DPRD, and Regency/City DPRD
conducted using an open proportional system." Meanwhile, paragraph (3) states, "Elections for DPD
members conducted using a multi-representation district system." Then, according to Article 185 of
Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections, "The creation of electoral districts for members of the DPR,
Provincial DPRD, and Regency/City DPRD takes into account the following principles:" letter c
"Adherence to a proportional election system." Among the shortcomings of the application of the open
proportional system are: This system does not promote parties to integrate or collaborate to capitalize
on existing similarities; instead, it tends to accentuate differences and facilitates party fragmentation. If
a conflict arises within a party, its members tend to form a new party; the proportional system gives the
party leader a strong position; the elected representative is likely to have a tenuous relationship with his
constituents; and due to a large number of competing parties, it is difficult for a party to gain the
parliamentary majority required to form a government.
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