Nawir Arsyad Akbar, Jakarta – Kompas Research and Development (Litbang Kompas) has released the results of a poll showing that the majority of Generation Y or Millennials reject the election of regional heads (Pilkada) via Regional Representative Councils (DPRD).
Generation Y or Millennials are a demographic group born between 1981 and 1996.
In the poll, Litbang Kompas divided Generation Y into two groups: Middle Generation Y and Young Generation Y.
The results showed that 83.7 percent of Middle Generation Y supports the system of directly electing regional heads and only 1.9 percent elections via the DPRDs.
"Respondents from the middle Gen Y (34-41 years old) where as many as 83.7 percent support direct Pilkada", read the poll results as reported by Kompas.id on Wednesday January 14.
Meanwhile, 13.9 percent of Middle Generation Y answered that both direct and DPRD elections are the same and 0.6 percent did not answer.
Then for Younger Generation Y group, 74 percent want direct regional elections, 5.1 percent support elections via the DPRDs, 11.5 percent say both are the same and 9.4 percent did not answer.
Gen Z want direct elections
The survey also found that the majority of people under 26, or Generation Z, want the direct election of regional heads with 89.5 percent saying they want a direct election mechanism.
"As many as 89.5 percent of Gen Z voters in this poll expressed support for a direct Pilkada mechanism. This figure is the highest compared to other generational groups", read the poll results.
In the poll, not a single Gen Z member supported the election of regional heads through DPRDs, meanwhile 10.5 percent answered that direct or indirect elections are the same.
Baby Boomers, Gen X support direct elections
The survey also recorded the opinions of Baby Boomers and Generation X, who overwhelmingly support a direct regional election system.
Baby Boomers are the generation born after World War II, generally between 1946 and 1964. Generation X, meanwhile, is the demographic group born between 1965 and 1980.
In the results of the survey found that 64.3 percent of Baby Boomers want a direct regional election system.
Meanwhile, 3.6 percent support a system of electing regional heads through the DPRDs. Another 31.8 percent responded that both are equivalent.
Then, among the Generation X group 69.3 percent support a mechanism where the people directly elect their regional heads.
Meanwhile 14.7 percent of this group supports regional elections through the DPRDs and 15.8 percent of Gen Xers believe both mechanisms are equal.
Overall majority says direct elections best
Overall, the majority of respondents, or 77.3 percent, stated that direct regional elections are the most suitable electoral system.
Meanwhile, 5.6 percent stated that the election of regional heads by DPRDs is the most suitable system. Then, 15.2 percent of respondents stated "Both are the same" and 1.9 percent answered "Don't know".
Of the 77.3 percent of respondents who stated they were comfortable with direct regional elections, 46.2 percent cited democracy and participation as their reasons for choosing this system.
Furthermore, 35.5 percent cited the quality of leaders as a reason for choosing direct elections. Distrust of the government (5.4 percent), other reasons (1.4 percent) and not knowing (4.5 percent) were also cited.
Litbang Kompas conducted the survey via telephone from December 8 to 11, 2025. A total of 510 respondents from 76 cities in 38 provinces were interviewed.
The sample was randomly selected from the Litbang Kompas panel of respondents according to the proportion of the population in each region.
This method has a 95 percent level of confidence with a margin of error of plus-or-minus 4.24 percent under simple random sampling conditions. errors outside the sampling range are however possible.
[Slightly abridged translation by James Balowski based on three articles by Kompas.com. The original title of the lead article was "Litbang Kompas: Mayoritas Generasi Milenial Tolak Pilkada via DPRD".]
