The Habibie Center, with the support of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) Indonesia, held the fourth “Democracy Dialogue” of the year. This time, the discussion focused on the topic “Unravelling the Institutional Design of Regional Elections for Substantive Local Democracy”. The hybrid event brought together representatives from state institutions, academia, and civil society to discuss the institutional framework of regional elections and its implications for the quality of local democracy.
The discussion centred on the ongoing and controversial debate between direct elections by the people and the indirect election of regional heads by regional parliaments. It was emphasised that this issue should not be assessed solely on the basis of costs or the formal question of who elects regional heads. The panel discussion particularly addressed the institutional implementation and accountability of regional elections, political representation, as well as mechanisms for controlling and correcting political power.
The subsequent Q&A session gave participants the opportunity to explore the various perspectives in greater depth and discuss possible conclusions for further developing the institutional framework of regional elections.
