Semarang was granted city status (Gemeente) during the Dutch East Indies period on 1 April 1906, and a city council (gemeenteraad) comprising 23 members was formed.

[1] After the end of the revolution, a provisional regional house of representatives (DPRDS) was formed in 1950 with 34 members who were selected by a 165-member committee led by the city's mayor Koesbiyono.

The other political parties – the Indonesian National Party, Masyumi, and Nahdlatul Ulama – boycotted the council after PKI legislators elected a PKI mayor in 1957.

[4] Following the transition to the New Order, Semarang's legislative election starting in 1971 like other cities was dominated by Golkar.

[8] The current speaker is Kadar Lusman of PDI-P, who was sworn in on 13 September 2019.