JAKARTA, The Kabar News—Indonesia’s Constitutional Court (MK) has declared inadmissible a petition seeking to extend the terms of regional legislative council members elected in 2024 until their successors take office following the planned 2031 local elections.

The court delivered Decision No. 374/PUU-XXIV/2026 on Thursday, Oct. 29. It ruled that the three applicants lacked the legal standing required to challenge provisions of the Legislative Institutions Law (UU MD3).

The petitioners were Muhammad Zulfan Raghibie, Jaif Saputra and M. Khairu Mamnun, postgraduate law students at Gadjah Mada University. They challenged Article 318(4) and Article 367(4) of Law No. 17/2014, which govern the terms of provincial and regency or municipal DPRD members.

The applicants argued that lawmakers needed to resolve a potential transition problem created by the Constitutional Court’s earlier decision. That earlier decision separated national and local elections.

They sought an interpretation that would allow DPRD members elected in 2024 to remain in office. This would continue until legislators elected in the next local polls were sworn in.

However, Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra said the applicants had not shown how the disputed provisions directly harmed their constitutional rights.

“The petitioners failed to demonstrate a causal relationship between the challenged provisions and the alleged impairment of their constitutional rights,” Saldi said during the ruling.

The court therefore did not examine the petition’s substantive arguments. In Indonesian judicial terminology, declaring a case “inadmissible” differs from rejecting it on the merits.

The dispute emerged after Constitutional Court Decision No. 135/PUU-XXII/2024 redesigned Indonesia’s election calendar. Under that ruling, national elections will cover the House of Representatives, the Regional Representatives Council and the presidency.

Local elections, including DPRD contests, will follow within two to two-and-a-half years after the inauguration of nationally elected officials.

That schedule could place the next local legislative elections in 2031, while DPRD members elected in 2024 normally serve five-year terms. This difference has raised questions about how Indonesia will maintain regional legislative functions during the transition.

The court also considered the latest petition premature because the House of Representatives and the government are still preparing legislative revisions required by the earlier election ruling.

“All affected provisions are not yet ripe for review,” Saldi said.

The Constitutional Court’s case register confirms that the court issued the ruling on Oct. 29.

The decision does not automatically extend current DPRD terms to 2031. It also gives no automatic entitlement to unsuccessful candidates who received the next-highest vote totals in the 2024 elections.

Any interim replacement must continue to follow the statutory inter-term replacement mechanism, including the relevant party’s nomination process.

Lawmakers must now establish a clear transition framework that keeps regional legislatures operating. This should happen without disrupting their lawmaking, budgeting and oversight responsibilities. Until they enact that framework, the court’s ruling leaves the central question of the DPRD transition unanswered.