Young voters, who will make up the majority of voters in February’s election, are hoping that the new president and vice president will keep public discussions alive to ensure grassroots aspirations are heard in the future.

"If you're unwilling to listen to criticism, eventually, [people] will become apathetic [toward any incoming government],” 22-year-old student Mohammad Tegar Tsabitul, a registered voter in Jakarta, said last week, as quoted by Antara. “At the very least, [the elected president should] establish an institution to listen to grassroots voices.”

Data from the General Elections Commission (KPU) shows that some 52 percent of the country’s 204 million total registered voters are younger than 40. A third of all registered voters are millennials, while 22 percent belong to Generation Z.

With younger people comprising a majority of the voter roll, all three candidate pairs have tilted their campaign efforts toward young voters and have held dialogues with them ahead of the election.

Presidential candidate Anies Baswedan and running mate Muhaimin Iskandar, for example, have been hosting Desak Anies (challenge Anies) and Slepet Imin (hit Muhaimin) public discussions in various parts of the country to draw young people into policy discussions.

VP candidates from the other camps – Mahfud MD, the running mate to Ganjar Pranowo, and Gibran Rakabuming Raka of frontrunner Prabowo Subianto – were known to have turned to X to respond to public complaints regarding their respective jobs as coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs and Surakarta mayor.

Anies and Mahfud also recently made their debuts on popular video-sharing and live-streaming platform TikTok, hosting discussions during their live streams shortly before and on New Year’s Eve.

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