The law was passed in July 2017 following nine months of debate in the People's Representative Council.

During the voting procedure, opposing parties – Gerindra, PAN, PKS and Demokrat conducted a mass walkout with all their members, which included three deputy speakers, except for another deputy speaker Fahri Hamzah who decided to remain.

All remaining parties of the government coalition approved the 20 percent presidential threshold (Option A), with Hamzah the only opposition.

[1] The 2017 law sets the number of seats for local legislature according to the population, as defined in the ranges below: Provincial[a][8]:Art.

[7] The threshold does not apply to local legislative elections, and all participating parties may win seats in provincial and municipal councils regardless of their total national vote.

A lawsuit by Vice President Jusuf Kalla on the term limits set by articles 169 and 227 was rejected in June 2018.

[13] A lawsuit against Article 182, which did not explicitly prohibit political party functionaries from being elected into the Regional Representative Council, was won in July 2018.