<![CDATA[Regional head elections have undergone a shift from a standalone election regime into an inseparable part of the general election regime. This shift raises legal issues concerning the scope of lawmakers’ authority in designing the implementation of regional head elections, which was previously flexible. This study aims to analyze the implications of such a shift on the design of regional head election implementation. This normative legal research applies statutory, case, and conceptual approaches to examine primary and secondary legal materials. The results indicate that the transformation of regional head elections into the general election regime has reduced the scope of lawmakers’ regulatory authority through three primary constraints. First, constitutional constraints in Article 22E require regional head elections to comply with general election principles, particularly the direct principle, and a five-year cycle, which precludes the option of indirect elections via the Regional House of Representatives and the modification of the regional head’s term of office. Second, Constitutional Court precedents regarding general elections now apply to regional head elections and demand the elimination of double standards between the General Election Law and the Regional Head Election Law. Third, harmonization between the General Election Law and the Regional Head Election Law is essential to resolve existing regulatory disparities. Therefore, adjusting regional head election regulations using constitutional standards applied to general elections, and codifying the Regional Head Election Law into the General Election Law, are primary steps that must be taken by lawmakers to ensure legal certainty and the realization of constitutional regional head elections in the future]]>
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