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How veteran leaders clinging to power can breed discontentment and defections.
When it comes to power within a political party, state or nation, politics does seem to be a zero-sum game.
This was seen recently in the state of Maharashtra, one of the most electorally significant in India.
Ajit Pawar, a politician of the National Congress Party (NCP) broke away, taking a band of parliamentarians with him and was made the deputy Chief minister under the aegis of a BJP-led government.
The NCP is led by his 84-year-old uncle, and Pawar defended his ‘betrayal’ on the grounds that even civil servants in the country retire at 60.
This was a full circle moment in Indian politics, because his uncle, Sharad Pawar, was once the youngest Chief Minister of the state, but has clung to power within his party. The irony of this situation is compounded by the fact that the defector, Ajit Pawar, who is calling for the reins of the party to be handed to the ‘younger generation’ is himself 63 years old.
Aged politicians being viewed as the rightful holders of political power is the norm and not the exception in India – a situation that can be observed in most other parts of the world.
In the US, an octogenarian will be running for President come 2024, whereas in the UK and France, the average age of members of parliament or senators is around 60. One of the chief objections levelled against Macron before he rose to become the youngest French President in history at the age of 39 in 2017, was his inexperience and relative youth.
But what is perceived as a disadvantage is actually integral to moving politics forward. German sociologist Karl Mannheim held that young people, being part of a new generational unit, bring a fresh perspective to society.
They are less bound by established traditions and social norms compared to older generations.
This detachment from established structures allows them to question existing practices and generate innovative ideas. This is because they have a critical distance from the prevailing social order, which gives them the ability to examine society and envision alternative futures.
When younger politicians contest elections, they also tend to boost voter turnout among the population ranging from the ages 18-30. One notable example of this is when Justin Trudeau was first elected Prime Minister of Canada in 2015.
According to Elections Canada, the turnout rate for Canadians aged 18 to 24 rose from 38.8% in 2011 to 57.1% in 2015.
Another key disadvantage of not allowing youthful leaders to take charge is that they are encouraged to break away from their original parties and form alliances with former electoral rivals or seek to form their own independent political party. In India, where coalitions are nearly indispensable to form governments in most states, this weakens the stability of the party in power.
It also augments the uncertainty voters face – they may be voting for a certain platform or ideology, but they can’t be sure whether a leader will turn around and form a new alliance with a party who they are fundamentally opposed to. This weakens trust in and engagement with the operation of democratic procedures.
