Determinant Factor Analysis of Political Choice Establishment of
Elderly People
K. Suryadi, L. Anggraeni and Sri Wahyuni Tanshzil
Departemen Pendidikan Kewarganegaraan, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Jl. Dr. Setiabudhi No. 229 Bandung,
Indonesia
Keywords: Determinant Factors, Elderly Political Rights, Political Choice, General Elections.
Abstract: Elderly people in the election administration are often neglected with respect to the services, especially in the
fulfillment and involvement of their political rights. In fact, there are political rights that should be given to
elderly people in general election in the form of having the right of justice, the right to information, and the
right to vote. This paper aims at explaining the results of determinant factor analysis of the political choice
establishment of elderly people in Cimahi mayoral election in 2017. In this study, the analytical processes
employed a qualitative-descriptive as the research method, in which the research subject was in the form of
person and it was executed using purposive techniques, involving the elderly people, the Regional Election
Commission (KPUD) and the other related Social Services involved in the General Mayoral Election of
Cimahi in 2017. In addition, the techniques of collecting data and information employed in this present study
were in-depth interviews and literature studies. The results of qualitative analysis showed that the determinant
factors of the political choice establishment of elderly people were based on (1) internal factors and (2)
external factors.
1 INTRODUCTION
General election is regarded as a means of democracy
(Stokes, 1999) for all citizens to realize the
sovereignty of the people and to gain their political
rights, including the elderly people. This general
election is expected to establish a democratic and
strong government, and it will gain the support of the
people in order to realize the national objectives as
mandated by the 1945 Constitution.
However, the reality showed the opposite. In the
implementation of general election for the elderly
people or for those whose age are between and more
than 65 years, these elderly people are often ignored
and receive discriminatory treatments, especially in
the fulfillment of the political rights. Whereas, it is
clear that there are political rights for those elderly
people in the general election to access the right of
justice, the right to get information, and the right to
vote.
In principle, the elderly community has the same
rights as provided for the other communities in order
to have a special treatment and in the same time they
are also freed from any form of discrimination. The
high needs for the justice principles and the
elimination of all forms of barriers as indicated by the
spirit of the Constitution for all state citizens in the
implementation of the general election are viewed as
the embodiment of the sovereignty of the people in
order to establish a system of democratic governance.
In the Article 5 Paragraph (1) of Indonesia
Constitution, Number 13 in the Year of 1998 on
Welfare for the Elderly People, it is said that "the
elderly people have equal rights in the life of society,
nation, and state".
World Health Organization (WHO) as reported by
the Center of Data and Information, the Ministry of
Health of the Republic of Indonesia, projected that the
elderly population in Indonesia will reach 11.34% or
28.8 million people in 2020. On the other hand, the
number of population under the age of five years
(toddlers) is around 6.9%. Therefore, Indonesia is
encouraged to increase the needs for the services and
the fulfillments of the rights of the elderly people,
including their political rights. In fact, the data has
proved that the elderly people deserve to be
acknowledged in political events, such as the general
election since they also have the same voting rights as
other voters. The general election as the Democratic
Party, should involve all elements of the citizens
144
Suryadi, K., Anggraeni, L. and Tanshzil, S.
Determinant Factor Analysis of Political Choice Establishment of Elderly People.
In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Sociology Education (ICSE 2017) - Volume 2, pages 144-148
ISBN: 978-989-758-316-2
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved

without any exception (Amudsen, 2016). In fact, it is
clear that one of the indicators in relation the qualified
implementation of general election is the element of
education towards the politics that will support the
high level of public participation of the elderly
people.
Based on the research results, "in the general
election, the novice voters are given their own
political rights in the implementation of election, such
as to choose freely in accordance with their
conscience, to respect each other's opinions, to
support and cooperate, and it is different with the
elderly voters who have many limitations in terms of
getting Political rights ". In addition, as the matter of
fact, the tendency of political choices of the elderly
people is also different. In fact, there are some of them
who elect the religious-based parties’ candidates,
while some others elect the candidates coming from
the nationalist-based parties. This difference in terms
of political choices is influenced by many aspects. In
particular, some of them in fact are influenced by the
proximity to the political parties and some others are
influenced by the preference of family, friends in an
organization, political issues, and the identification
towards political parties, religion, ethnicity,
economics and so forth.
Coming from those aforementioned reasons, the
researcher is then interested in conducting a study on
the analysis of determinant factors in the
establishment of political choices in the elderly
people.
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Review of Political Rights
Political rights are human rights related to the
political issues, such as the freedom of choice and
election in democracy, freedom to establish parties,
and the right to file and make a petition (Nanou,
2012).
Basically, a political right is a period in which a
citizen is given his/her own political rights wholly
and thoroughly and their participation cannot be
denied. Therefore, the state organizer should be able
to secure the political rights for society in order to
create social justice for all Indonesian people.
Political right is a right coming from the dignity
and it is attached to every human being in which their
existence is guaranteed and respected by the state. In
fact, it aims at human beings can have their own rights
and freedom in the political field whose it’s
fulfillment becomes the responsibility of the State
(Valentini, 2012).
In the Article 23 paragraph (2) of the Constitution,
Number 39 in the Year of 1999 on Human Rights, it
is said that "everyone is free to have, issue and
disseminate opinions according to his or her
conscience, either orally and/or in writing through
printed and electronic media by paying attention to
the values of religion, morality, order, public interest,
and integrity of the nation ".
Furthermore, in the Article 23 paragraph (1) of the
Constitution, Number 39 in the Year of 1999 on
Human Rights, it is said that, "everyone is free to vote
and have political belief". Political rights are also
understood as the right to participate in government,
the right to vote (elect and be elected), the right to
establish political parties, etc. (Qi et al., 2010).
In this perspective, political rights are a means of
gaining greater political objectives to gain power (Qi
et al., 2010). The essence of politics is basically
power. In other words, it is used to organize society
so that they can be obedient and subject to the rules
and this obedience can be realized unless there is the
existence of power. Politics is a struggle to gain
power, run power, control power, and how to use
power.
Therefore, it can be concluded that the political
rights in this study is considered as the ways the
community, especially the elderly community know
and gain their own political rights.
2.2 Review of General Election and
Political Rights of Elderly People
General election is considered as a process of electing
those who will occupy the seat of government
(Hafner-Burton et al., 2014). Meanwhile, the regional
elections are held simultaneously in order to create a
democratic country, where the regional leaders are
elected by the majority vote ".
In essence, the general election is viewed as an
available means of sustaining the sovereignty of the
people in accordance with the principle of
engagement in the Preamble to the 1945 Constitution.
The simultaneous elections are essentially considered
as a democratic medium in which the leaders for the
certain regions are elected directly by the people and
they along with the government are given an authority
to set up the politics and the continuity of the regional
government (Brender and Drazen, 2013).
Although every Indonesian citizen (male and
female) has the rights to vote, the Election
Constitution sets the age restrictions in order to
participate in the general election. The time limits for
Determinant Factor Analysis of Political Choice Establishment of Elderly People
145

setting the general restriction are the time registration
of the voters for the general election:
 Above the age 17;
 Under the age of 17 but he or she already got
married.
With respect to the provision of the age limit as
mentioned above, it is based on the development of
political life in Indonesia. In fact, the citizens of the
Republic of Indonesia which has reached the age of
17 years, they will be given a political responsibility
for the state and society. Therefore, the right is
automatically given to Indonesian citizen to choose
the representatives to sit the House of Representatives
(Warren, 2013). As it is clearly explained in
accordance with the general election, it is assumed to
be needed to know more about the election from the
perspective of health. According to Stokes (1999),
"the elderly people are divided into three categories
consisting of: young old (65-74 years-old); middle
old (75-84 years-old); and old (over 85 years-old) ".
Meanwhile, according to Setyonegoro, "elderly
people are defined as people whose age are over 65
years-old. Furthermore, elderly people are divided
into these categories covering 70-75 years-old (young
old); 75-80 years-old (old); and more than 80 years-
old (very old) ".
In principle, the elderly period is the final stage of
the development in the life cycle of a man.
Meanwhile, according to the Article 1 paragraph (2),
(3), (4) Constitution No. 13 of 1998 on Health, it is
said that "the elderly people are those who have
reached the age of more than 60 years". According to
Dra. Mrs. Jos Masdani (psychology of the University
of Indonesia), the elderly is a continuation of adult
age between the age of 65 years to the death.
Based on those aforesaid opinions, it can be
concluded that the elderly is a period of elderly people
whose age are over 60 years-old. However, they are
still active in following the Democratic Party since
they have a duty to participate in the general election
as a good citizen.
3 METHODS
The method employed in this study was a qualitative-
descriptive in which the data were obtained from
informants representing the data source. With respect
to the research subject in the form of person, this
study employed a purposive technique. In this regard,
the elderly, KPUD, and the social offices were chosen
as the research subjects involved in the General
Election of 2017. In addition, the subjects in the form
of papers were taken from the literature in order to
support the research on the fulfillment of political
rights of the elderly people in the implementation of
General Election of 2017. In this study, the data and
information were collected through various
techniques taken from various sources, either human
beings or non-human beings. In addition, the
collection of information and data were executed
through the techniques of in-depth interviews and
literature studies. In regard to the data analysis
techniques, this study applied the three activities
taking place simultaneously in the forms of data
reduction, data presentation, drawing
conclusions/verification.
4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In principle, political rights in the general election are
considered as the rights given to all people, regardless
of teenagers, adults, or elderly people. According to
Article 1 paragraph (2), (3), (4) Act No. 13 of 1998
on Health, it is said that "the elderly people are those
who have reached the age of more than 60 years.
WHO projected that the elderly population in
Indonesia will reach 11.34% or recorded 28.8 million
people in the coming 2020. On the other hand, the
number of people under the age of five years
(toddlers) is around 6.9%. This numbers explain that
that the number of elderly population will be in a
strategic position in the next 2020. Therefore, the
service and the fulfillment of the rights, including the
political rights of the elderly people are regarded as
the to-be-executed things.
In making use of the right to vote, there are a
number of raised questions consisting of ‘why do
many people take political actions while others do
not? Why do people choose PDIP, Golkar, PAN, PPP,
Hanura while other parties are not elected? Why does
one particular region have a tendency to choose one
political party, while the other is not elected? What
are the factors that shape the political choices of the
society, including the elderly people?
In this regard, there are some factors viewed as the
determinants of the political choice of the elderly
people towards a particular political party in the
general election. Based on the research results, two
general factors have been identified covering: (1)
internal factors, and (2) external factors. In one side,
it is found that there are three things in the internal
factors that are considered as the representatives of
the voter behavior in the general election consisting
of perception, motivation, and attitude of the elderly
people towards the candidates whom they have
ICSE 2017 - 2nd International Conference on Sociology Education
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chosen. In the other side, the external factors are
influenced by the family environment, surrounding
communities, mass media, and the candidates
themselves.
4.1 Internal Factors
Internal factors are considered as one of the factors
coming from the individuals that affect their
participation in the general election and in voicing
their political choices for a particular candidate.
Based on the results of this study, it is obvious that
there are four dominant aspects that influence the
voter choices internally, namely: (1) candidate
factors, (2) perception, (3) motivation, (4) attitude of
the elderly people towards the candidates whom they
have chosen. The theoretical approach of voter
behavior patterns (Voting Behavior) is well-known as
the Michigan Model theory or the psychological
approach theory (Bartels, 2012). According to this
theory, the behavior of choosing a person is
determined by the psychological impulse that forms
someone's political choices. The psychological bond
is caused by the existence of the closeness between
the voters and the parties or candidates; and also
caused by the determinant triage covering party
identification, candidate orientation, and issue
orientation (Dalton, 2002). Party identification is
defined as a long process of socialization that will
foster close relationships between individuals and
political parties and other community organizations.
Through this identification, a person will always feel
as the part of the political party, therefore, it will
create a tendency to keep voting the candidates from
such political party for a long time (Gunther and
Diamond, 2003). The candidate's orientation refers to
the assessment of the character or personality and the
value displayed by the candidate in either the family
environment or the community environment, such as
the wisdom, courtesy, fairness, courage, leader-
minded, rescuer, and the others. Orientation issues
and policies are also considered as an important thing.
This assumption is based on the ability to represent
policies or programs and strategies used by the
political candidates in dealing with an existing
problem. Some of these factors, that will promote
perceptions of the voters and become motivations,
promote the behavior to vote one candidate of a
particular political party.
Those explanations above can be identified in
Dalton's explanation. In particular, the behavioral
process in electing some particular candidates on the
psychological theory is analogically like a funnel
causality filter as shown in Figure 1 (Dalton, 2002).
Figure 1: Funnel Causality.
This model explains that the individual voice
decisions are based on the three attitudes:
partisanship, opinion on the issue, and image of the
candidate. In fact, it can convince the voters which
will have an impact directly or indirectly on the
community behavior in choosing the candidates
(Dalton, 2002). Therefore, the effectiveness of the
candidate campaign, the identity and popularity of the
candidate, the electability and the bearer party of the
candidates are considered as some other mandatory
things that should be considered by the political
parties in order to be able to mobilize and encourage
people to vote in the general election.
4.2 External Factors
External factors are considered as the factors that
come from the outside environment of the
individuals, usually from the nearest environment.
Based on the results of this study, it is obvious that
the external factors that can motivate the elderly
voters to give their political rights in the election
consist of: (1) family environment, (2) surrounding
community environment, and (3) mass media. These
aforementioned factors are explained through the
Sociological Approach or the Columbia Study
pioneered by Lezarsfeild in 1940. The sociological
approach concerns on the influence of social
characteristics (occupation, education, and others)
and sociological backgrounds (religion, region,
gender, age, etc.) of the people towards their political
behaviors (Bartels, 2012). In other words, social
groupings such as, age (old-young); gender (male-
female); religions and the like are considered to have
a decisive role in shaping the social groupings, either
formally such as one's membership in religious
organizations, professional organizations,
occupational groups and so on; or informally such as
family, friendships, or other small groups are vital in
understanding one's political behavior, since these
groups have a great role in shaping one's attitude,
perception and orientation.
Determinant Factor Analysis of Political Choice Establishment of Elderly People
147

This assumption is based on the social circle
theory, in which each individual will be attached to
the nearest circle in a particular society (Pachur et al.,
2005). In some contexts, a person lives in a condition
with his or her status, family, religion, residence,
work environment, age, culture. As a whole, it can be
defined that the social circles as the suppressors for
individuals are used to determine the choices and
political decisions in the general election (Armingeon
and Schädel, 2015).
Based on the results of this present study, it is
obvious that there is a great influence from the family
environment. The influence is based on the political
preferences of the mother dan father. Therefore, it
will create a certain political preference towards the
children specifically and the family generally
(Pomper, 1978).
Similar to the surrounding environment, the
membership of elderly people in a social group, either
in a formal level (the membership of elderly people
in a religious or professional organization and
occupational group) or non-formal (friendship, small
groups) can influence their political views and
behaviors. From this group there can be interactions
and discussion that can ultimately influence the
political attitude of the elderly people. As an
illustration, a close correlation between religion and
voter behavior can always be found in which the
religious values are always present in private and
public life of Indonesian society.
In this era, media are considered as one of the
vital means of influencing the views and political
behaviors of the society (Diehl et al., 2016), including
the elderly people. Mass media is regarded as a means
of conveying the messages from the sources to the
public through the mediation of communication
media, such as newspapers, radio, and television.
Based on the results of this study, it is clear that the
mass media has become one of the important means
for the elderly in deciding the political views and
choices. During the general election, mass media has
significant roles, such as: (1) a means of socialization
of the General Election. It aims to improve people's
understanding and knowledge of the correct phases of
general election. In addition, mass media also
provides more information on the existing ways and
rules of election. Therefore, it can minimize the
occurrence of errors during the general election; (2)
one form of fair publication. Precisely, it also
provides the voters with the understanding on
publication processes by publishing the information
as a whole regarding the candidates participating in
the general election.
5 CONCLUSIONS
It can be concluded that the determinant factor of the
formation of political choice, elderly people does not
get fair treatment and discriminatory, especially in
political rights. As we know there are political rights
that can be obtained by elderly people in the general
election. Therefore, the government should uphold
the principal of justice to establish a democratic
system of government.
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