Pros and cons of Age of Political Candidacy

Over the years, there has been much debates about the age that a person must qualifies to become a political candidate. Whilst there are some differences among countries, for example in the US the candidate must be at least 35 to become the president while in Italy and Germany the age limit are 50 and 40 in that order, it is clearly that the limit is higher than the limit for the voting age. Although it is generally accepted that the political candidacy process must have higher requirement and one of them is the age limit, some people believe that these restrictions are ageist and the candidates’ age must be the same as the voting one.

First and foremost, limiting the political candidates’ age has a lot of advantages and one of them is related to the experience of the person. It’s undoubtedly that candidates running for a seat in the political system must be experienced enough in order to overcome hindrances and thus, he/she can work effectively. This is crucial in politics as the profession affects not only just a small group of people but it is also related to every aspects of life and every human in the society as well. Moreover, the older a person gets, the more knowledge and the more skills that person can acquire. The aggregate of knowledge and experience is a pivotal element for a politician to solve political problems in the best way since only a minor mistakes could lead to unpredictable and dangerous consequences. To cite some examples for this, let’s look at a few scenarios in the Cold War. Some officials, sergeants and veterans, from both the United States of America and the Soviet Union reported that at some situations they had to make important decisions that if their choices only had some slight differences, a nuclear war would be inevitable. A pressing of a button or false reports could started the war immediately. Politicians in the 21st century must be wised enough to make the best solution for every task they faced. Putting an age limit for political candidate will ensure that future politicians, future leaders of a nation will have enough knowledge and enough experience to handle all the problems, all the situations which could be vital to the future of a country.
Furthermore, the age restrictions force the younger and unqualified candidates have to wait for a few more years to be able to become a politician and so they can gain more knowledge and more experience. This may seems unfair for some people who are talented enough but waiting for the next election means that they will have time to prepare. Unlike other professions, politic-related jobs offers little mistakes, and when a person has more power in the political system, no mistakes could be made. For young candidates, they can wait and meet civilians, especially the ones from the “dark sides” of the society so that future politicians can acknowledge more about the sufferings of the people and thus, can represent the “under class” of the society in the government so that new laws, new legislation could be made to help the poor, the homeless people, etc…

On the other hand, some people suggest that the age limit for people to have seats in the political system should be lowered down to the voting age so that it is more fair for people. They stated that although the age limit could have some advantages, it proves that the political system doesn’t listen to all the voices of all generations but limited to a particular group of ages. There are some prejudices and preconceptions in which the young generations are bewildered at the political system as well as not clever enough and experienced enough to work as politicians. However, in this contemporary era when almost every person could access to technology and information, they could develop their own ideas and therefore have their own critical thinking and their own perspectives when encountering a specific situation in daily life, which is a tool for young people to gain more knowledge, to learn from the experiences of the predecessors and so, have the ability to run become a politicians with outstanding performances. Not only the young generation today has more knowledge but they are also innovative and has an abundance of ideas which can be great solutions to many problems are growing in this modern world. An example for the success young politicians is the new French-elected president – Mr Emmanuel Macron – who was only 39 when he was elected as the next president of France. Emmanuel Macron had defeated Mrs Marine Le Pen with an easy victory in a scenario offers much advantages for his opponents – the rise of nationalism in Europe and the globe as well as the fear of terrorism in France. The victory of Macron not only shows that the voice of young generation in France could be heard but also proves that the preconceptions had been broken down and the youth living in this world can be very talented.

Moreover, the age limit of political candidacy in numerous countries also proof that the bureaucratic system in many countries are only filled with old, aging leaders. With the government only has politicians with merely the same age of over 60, there would be little chances of any innovative ideas and suggestions but only old ideologies. As those old ideologies still stuck inside the mind of governments in many countries, especially nations in Asia and Africa, it will be quite challenging for those countries to keep up with the vibrant world which are changing rapidly that we can hardly see any familiar things only a decades, even a few years later. The age limit, according to a group of people, should be lowered down as much as possible so that young people could contribute more to the society and brings more ideas instead of “old, aging thinking” of leaders today.

Politics has always been a curious topic for discussions and its age limit to the candidates are fascinating as well. With the age limit, we can ensure that our future leaders will have enough knowledge and experience to harbor the nation but the age limit itself, according to some people, seems to ageist and unfair for talented young people. I am convinced that the age limit should still be used so as to make sure that the politicians are wised enough to overcome hindrances but ought to be varies among countries and among cultures. Since our world has various countries with its rich in cultural diversity, the minds and the perspective of people in different places are not the same so the age limit of countries should not be the same as each other. If the age limit of political candidacy of a country is suitable to its people, I strongly believe that the nation will give birth to talented leaders who can lead their countries to be more prosperous with its people always be cheerful and happiness to their society.