CSIS Rejects Options for Indirect Regional Elections: "No Leadership Regeneration"

1 day ago 7

January 7, 2026 | 05:05 pm

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) rejects the two options for holding regional elections through the Regional Representative Council (DPRD). CSIS urges a direct elections mechanism.

The Head of the Political and Social Department of CSIS, Arya Fernandes, said there is no relevance in DPRD electing regional heads, including governors, regents, or mayors. "This will eliminate the regeneration of national leadership," Arya said when met in Central Jakarta on Wednesday, January 7, 2026.

According to him, leadership regeneration has always started from the regions. Former President Joko Widodo, for example, or Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Prabowo's candidacies in the previous general elections.

All three figures had experiences as regional heads, advancing through the regeneration of leaders. "Had they been chosen by DPRD, this process would certainly be gone," he said.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Chair of the Golkar Party's Central Executive Board, Ahmad Doli Kurnia Tandjung, said the party's Political Study Team had been studying the indirect regional election discourse for 1.5 years. They recommended several options for its implementation.

First, the regional heads continue to be elected through a direct election process. Second, the regional elections should be chosen by the DPRD for the provincial and regency or city levels. And third, the gubernatorial elections should be chosen by the DPRD and asymmetric for the regency or city level.

The indirect election scheme, he said, was floated after considering the high political costs of direct regional elections.

Other parties also proposed the indirect election scheme, namely the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS). They argue that governors play a strategic role as representatives of the central government in the regions, so representative legitimacy through the DPRD can improve coordination and government stability.

However, Arya stated that regional elections chosen by the DPRD not only eliminate the process of national leadership regeneration but also the citizens' right to directly choose their leaders.

Despite this, a number of Prabowo's political backers have reasoned that indirect regional head elections would not be unconstitutional, as DPRD-elected regional heads would still reflect a democratic electoral process.

But this reasoning, Arya said, falls apart since a democratic election is embodied in a direct electoral system. "Meaning, whether in city or regency, or provincial level, democracy would call for direct regional elections," he said.

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