Electoral System Proposed in Draft Election Law: Multi-Member District Proportional Representation and Open List Voting

Introduction

On 29 May 2002, the Ministry of Home Affairs and Regional Autonomy of the Republic of Indonesia submitted a draft general election law to the People's Representative Council (DPR). This proposed law would govern elections - expected in mid-2004 - for representatives in national DPR, the new Regional Representative Council (DPD), and DPRD assemblies at provincial and regency/municipality (kabupaten/kota) levels.  

For selecting representatives in DPRlDPRD legislative assemblies, the draft law proposes that elections "use the proportional system with an open candidate list" (Article 6(1). The draft law further states that electoral districts for electing DPR members shall" be "the Provinces, or parts thereof, as Electoral Districts" (Article 7(J)(a).

This report is intended to explain how these proposals could work if adopted by DPR.  This report: 1) describes the main characteristics of a 'multi-member district' proportional representation system ('MMD-PR') and of 'open-list' voting; 2) identifies considerations for implementation of these electoral methods for election of DPRlDPRD representatives; and 3) provides sample maps to illustrate how more populous provinces of Indonesia could be divided into multi-member electoral districts of approximately equal population per seat for electing DPR representatives. (See: "Implementing 'MMD-PR'" section, below, for an explanation of criteria used for 'districting' illustrations.)