JAKARTA (ANN/THE JAKARTA POST) – The 2024 legislative election saw the lowest number of young lawmakers elected to Indonesia’s House of Representatives, according to a recent study, with incumbents and political dynasties cited as significant barriers to youth representation in the legislative body.
Research conducted by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), released on Wednesday, revealed that only 87 out of the 580 elected lawmakers are under the age of 40, accounting for a mere 15 percent of all successful legislative candidates.
The study highlighted the increasing prevalence of entrenched political figures and dynastic politics as key factors contributing to this decline in youthful representation in Indonesia’s parliament.
The figure was one per cent lower than in the 2019 election and the lowest in the country’s history. Overall, the average age of elected legislative candidates this year is 52 years old.
For the study, CSIS researchers looked at the General Elections Commission’s (KPU) tabulation result for the legislative elections and estimated the number of seats obtained by each party using the Sainte-Laguë method. The researchers also looked at candidates with the most votes from each party in every election district.
The KPU’s final result on the number of seats obtained by each party at the House will not be released until the Constitutional Court settles all legislative election dispute petitions, with the process slated to run until June.
The low number of elected young politicians comes in an election that saw younger generations, comprising millennials and Gen-Zers, make up more than half of registered voters.
The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) came out on top in the legislative race with 16.7 percent of total national votes, followed by the Golkar Party (15.3 per cent) and the Gerindra Party (13.2 per cent).
According to the CSIS study, the number of young lawmakers since the 1999 election had been gradually increasing in every election, peaking in 2009 when voters saw around 23 percent of House members under 40 years old.
“The 2009 election was a pivotal point because, based on the data, most of the young lawmakers were political activists,” said Arya Fernandes, head of CSIS’ politics and social change department, during the study launch in Jakarta on Wednesday.
Some young politicians elected to the House in 2009 eventually became notable political figures in the national political landscape today, such as PDI-P politician Ganjar Pranowo who ran in the 2024 presidential election, and Ida Fauziyah of the National Awakening Party (PKB), the current manpower minister.
Tough competition
But after 2009, the number of young lawmakers in the House began to decrease, with CSIS suggesting that dynastic politics and incumbents increasingly filling up the legislative seats were prime factors hindering young people from entering the political stage.
Over 56 per cent of the 580 elected legislators this year served in the 2019-2024 period, according to CSIS’ estimate; a contrast from the 2019 election when more than half of the House seats were filled with non-incumbents.
Young politicians with no prior experience in the legislative body were also competing with families and relatives of other politicians, as the CSIS study noted 138 elected politicians this year, including 50 of the young ones, were connected by blood or other associations with incumbent lawmakers.
For young members of such dynasties, this could be a privilege, as 50 of 87 young politicians elected this year were connected to other politicians.
But more parties this year appeared to be pushing for youths in the legislative race.
“In the Prosperous Justice Party [PKS], they prioritised some young candidates to take up ballot No 1 or 2 in certain electoral districts with a higher chance of winning,” said Muhammad Kholid of the PKS, a non-incumbent who is projected to win a House seat for the West Java VI district, at the CSIS report launch.
In the open-list proportional representation system employed in Indonesia’s elections, a candidate’s ballot number could determine their success at the polls. Political parties tend to put candidates with a higher chance of winning as No 1 or 2 on the ballot.
Some senior politicians also made space for their juniors in the race: “I coordinated with the incumbents, so my voter bases didn’t clash with their established ones in certain districts,” said Kawendra Lukistian from Gerindra, who is projected to win a House seat in the East Java IV district.
Arya of CSIS suggested political parties and elites should show more political will to provide an equal chance for young politicians as well as support them to win the election.
“A total evaluation of the election system is also necessary to ensure that an equal chance can be achieved,” he added.
Separately, the number of women lawmakers elected to the House increased in this year’s election, reaching its highest percentage of nearly 22 per cent with 127 people, according to the CSIS study.
Over 81 per cent of the 204 million eligible voters cast their votes for the February presidential and legislative elections, according to the KPU.
