Schools Turned into Democracy Laboratories to Prevent Gen Z from Voting Blindly

Political education and democratic awareness for the younger generation are now being concretely shaped from an early age within the school environment. The Focused Discussion Forum (FDT) activity, which initiated the concept of simultaneous Student Council Elections (Pemilos), is beneficial for providing tangible technical electoral learning, shifting conventional campaigning methods to environmentally friendly digital media, and changing the behaviour of young voters to be wiser, more objective, and not influenced by money politics or apathy (abstention).

The Chairman of the Badung Regency KPU, I Gusti Ketut Gede Yusa Arsana Putra, stated that this meeting aims to generate a new framework of thinking in student council elections. “We realise that in elections, the largest percentage of voters is filled by young people, whose numbers exceed 50 percent. The political and electoral dynamics will greatly influence the young voters’ voice,” said Yusa Arsana Putra on Friday (24/7). This step is seen as highly strategic considering the potential of millennial and Gen Z voters, which is estimated to reach around 64% in the upcoming 2029 General Election.

Meanwhile, Bali Provincial KPU Member I Gede John Darmawan explained that his party wants to build a democratic pattern and election implementation that closely mirrors a real general election. “Elections are not just about attendance at the polling station, but qualitatively also concern how capable voters are of appreciating and understanding the importance of their right to vote. Therefore, we at the KPU want to teach the technical procedures of voting so that first-time voters will later be ready, both in quality and quantity, to make the 2029 Election a success,” said I Gede John Darmawan.

Through simulations and student council election procedures designed to closely resemble actual election mechanisms, schools can function as ideal democracy laboratories to produce intelligent first-time voters. Badung Regency KPU Member Agung Rio Swandisara also quoted the philosopher Plato to emphasise the importance of building critical reasoning among young voters. “Democracy will collapse if we choose leaders like we choose our favourite singer. We designed this simultaneous Student Council Election to deliver voter education and bring the real democratic process closer to schools first, so that it will later produce first-time voters who are ready to channel their voting rights,” Agung Rio Swandisara asserted. He added that when student council elections can shift the paradigm from using billboards to social media, it can simultaneously address environmental issues by reducing conventional plastic-based methods.

The Focused Discussion Forum activity, titled Socialisation of Voter Education and Democracy in High School/Vocational School Student Council Elections in the Badung Regency Area, was organised by the Badung Regency KPU on Friday, 24 July 2026, at the Nayakottama Meeting Room, Graha Alaya Giri Nata Election Building, Jalan Kebo Iwa No. 39, Denpasar.