The Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem), along with several individual applicants, has submitted a constitutional review petition to the Constitutional Court of Indonesia. The petition challenges provisions on women’s representation in election management bodies under the Election Law and Regional Elections Law. The applicants seek a Court mandate for at least 30% women’s representation in the General Elections Commission (KPU), Election Supervisory Board (Bawaslu), and Honorary Council of Election Organizers (DKPP), both across institutions and at all levels. This petition builds on previous Constitutional Court decisions that reinforced affirmative action for women’s political representation.
“Only four Provincial General Elections Commissions have women representing more than 30% of their commissioners, while fifteen Provincial KPU offices have no female commissioners at all,” said Haykal, a researcher at Perludem and legal counsel for the applicants, alongside Dudi Agung Trisna, Sri Afrianis, and M. Nur Ramadhan, in Jakarta on 20 July.
At the national level, the 2022–2027 membership of both the KPU and Bawaslu, elected by the House of Representatives (DPR), includes only one woman in each institution. This has hindered the achievement of the 30% women’s quota in election management bodies at provincial, regency/municipal, and polling station levels. During this period, the KPU issued Regulation No. 10 of 2023, which uses a rounding-down method to calculate the 30% women’s quota for candidate lists in elections for the DPR and Regional Legislative Councils (DPRD).
The constitutional challenge covers all election management bodies, including the KPU, Bawaslu, and DKPP, and addresses multiple provisions on women’s representation in the Election Law and Regional Elections Law. Under Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections, the challenged provisions are Article 10(7), Article 22(1), Article 52(3), Article 53(3), Article 55(3), Article 59(4), Article 92(11), and Article 155(4) and (5). Under Law No. 10 of 2016 on Regional Elections, the petition challenges Article 16(3), Article 19(1), and Article 21(1).
This petition is part of a broader series of constitutional challenges previously granted by the Constitutional Court. These include Decision No. 97/PUU-XXIII/2025, which mandates a minimum 30% women’s representation in parliamentary committee leadership and other parliamentary organs; Decision No. 128/PUU-XXIV/2026, which requires political parties to meet the 30% women’s quota in every electoral district during candidate nominations; and Decision No. 125-01-08-29/PHPU.DPR-DPRD-XXII/2024, an election dispute case regarding enforcement of the 30% women’s quota in legislative candidate lists for the Gorontalo Provincial Electoral District.
Perludem is represented as an institutional applicant by Heroik M. Pratama (Executive Director), Kahfi Adlan Hafiz (Program Manager), and Irmalidarti (Finance and Operations Manager). Individual applicants include Mike Verawati Tangka, former Secretary General of the Indonesian Women’s Coalition, and several former Provincial KPU Chairpersons: Maryanti Hermina Adoe (East Nusa Tenggara), Umi Rifdiyawaty (West Kalimantan), and Yessy Yatty Momongan (North Sulawesi). []
Usep Hasan Sadikin
Researcher at Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem)
