Law No. 1 of 2015 affirms that regional elections (pilkada) shall be conducted democratically and based on the principles of direct, general, free, secret, honest, and fair elections. These are the same electoral principles set forth in Article 22E paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia. By explicitly adopting these principles, the law implicitly recognizes regional elections as part of the broader electoral framework.
The law also introduces two “Implementation Principles” for regional elections. First, regional elections are to be held simultaneously every five years. Second, candidates are required to participate in a public scrutiny process (uji publik). These provisions are arguably redundant, as the terms principle and foundation carry essentially the same meaning. Moreover, the 1945 Constitution already links the five-year electoral cycle with the fundamental principles of elections, making a separate provision on simultaneous regional elections unnecessary.
Likewise, elevating the public scrutiny process to the status of an electoral principle appears excessive, as it is merely one of the requirements that candidates must fulfill rather than a foundational principle governing the conduct of elections.
