Plan to Increase KPU-Bawaslu Commissioners: A Solution or Just a Burden on the Budget?

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The proposal to increase the number of commissioners in the General Election Commission (KPU) and the Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) has emerged alongside the ongoing revision of the Election Law being discussed by the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI).

This proposal was revealed by Ahmad Irawan, a member of Commission II of the DPR RI, on Friday (23/10/2026).

Several reasons underlie this proposal.

Irawan stated that the proposal arose after evaluating the conduct of the 2024 elections.

The elections two years ago were deemed to have a heavy workload due to their simultaneous execution.

This evaluation then became part of the materials the DPR RI's Expert Board used to draft the academic text for the Election Law.

"If we talk about the national level and the KPU and Bawaslu, there is an evaluation showing that having only 5 Bawaslu commissioners is inadequate. KPU with only 7 is also insufficient," Irawan said on Friday.

The plan is to add two commissioners to the KPU, increasing the number from 7 to 9.

Meanwhile, the number of Bawaslu commissioners will be increased by about 2 to 4, bringing the total to 7 to 9 commissioners.

Alongside this, the DPR RI is also reviewing the possibility of adjusting the number of KPU and Bawaslu members in the regions based on the workload in each area.

The number of commissioners at the provincial and district/city levels does not have to be the same in every region.

The DPR will consider various aspects such as the number of voters, the size of the area, geographical conditions, and the scope of work.

"So it goes back to the number of needs. It should be in line with the workload," he explained.

Waiting for Discussion

However, Irawan stated that this proposal is still in the discussion phase for the academic text, which will then be discussed further by the DPR RI together with the government in the next meeting.

The Deputy Chair of Commission II from the Democratic Party faction, Dede Yusuf, also asked everyone to be patient while waiting for further developments.

The DPR, he stated, has not made a decision regarding this proposal because discussions in the Working Committee (Panja) have not yet resumed.

"The working committee meetings have not started yet. The discussions have not begun, so I think we should just wait for the dynamics of the discussions," he said.

According to the official schedule prepared by the Panja for the Election Law of the DPR RI, the next meeting is scheduled for Monday (2/10/2026). The agenda includes a working meeting and a public hearing with the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Honorary Council of Election Organizers (DKPP).

Nevertheless, is there a need for additional KPU and Bawaslu commissioners for the upcoming elections?

Is Adding Commissioners Necessary or Not?

Jojo Rohi, a member of the National Council of the Independent Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP) Indonesia, believes that adding 2 to 4 people to the ranks of KPU and Bawaslu commissioners is completely unnecessary.

The argument of a heavy workload is not a sufficient reason to justify adding several commissioners to both KPU and Bawaslu.

"In my opinion, the workload from the 2024 elections cannot be a strong enough reason to add two seats," Jojo stated when contacted by Kompas.com on Saturday (24/10/2026).