CSIS: Only 15% of DPR Members Are Under 40 Years of Age

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) found in its report that only 15 percent of members of the House of Representatives (DPR) who are projected to be elected are under 40 years old. This figure has decreased compared to the previous election, which reached 16 percent. The Greater Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) is the party with the most number of young legislators in the 2024 elections.

“The figures are stable for the Gerindra Party; the Gerindra Party first participated in elections in 2009, and the presentation of elected DPR members aged under 40 years has been stable until now, above 20 percent of the total DPR members of the Gerindra Party,” said the Head of the CSIS Department of Politics and Social Change. Arya Fernandes at the ‘Launching of the ‘Our Parliament’ Dashboard & Talkshow for Elected Young Legislative Members’ in the Senayan area, South Jakarta (24/4).

Meanwhile, the number of DPR members under 40 years old since the 1999 elections was the highest in the 2009 elections, reaching 23.2 percent. That year, 130 of the 560 DPR members were under 40 years old. Arya explained that this was because in the 2009 elections, many 98 activists ran for DPR members, compared to other election periods.

“Of the 130 names of young DPR members, 16 of them have incumbent status and generally belong to a generation of political activists,” explained Arya.

The projection for DPR members in the 2024 election is that the average age of DPR members is 25 years old. On average, the youngest DPR members come from the Gerindra Party and the National Democratic Party (Nasdem), each of whom is 49 years old. Meanwhile, on average, the oldest members of the DPR come from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and are 54 years old. []