At the start of the 2024 legislature, only nine deputies under the age of 30 were elected, which represents just 3.91% of parliamentarians, the study says.

This number, the research points out, “is far below the 15.69% of young people (between 15 and 29 years old) that make up the resident population in Portugal, according to data from Pordata”.

“The youth representation rates have been falling”, with few deputies under 35 years old, and “very few under 30”, points out Patrícia Silva, from the UA’s Department of Social, Political and Territorial Sciences.

The trend of aging ministers in the Portuguese parliament has been accentuated: in 2013, the average age of deputies was 45.9 years, and in 2022, it rose to 49 years”, records the study entitled “Young people with clipped wings: Bridging the gap between recruitment and youth representation in candidate lists”.

“Despite many young people being part of the parties’ internal structures, they continue to be overlooked on electoral lists in eligible positions,” the study notes.

Reflecting on whether the “jotas” (party youth groups) serve as a bridge or barrier to the political rise of young people in parliament, the study recalls that the very definition of “youth” already imposes limits: “at the age of 30, as a rule, the possibility of integrating these structures ceases”.

According to Patrícia Silva, most of the young people who participate in them have a specific social profile: “they tend to be urban young people, with higher education, with time available and, often, with family ties to politics”.

“These young people, despite being active within party youth groups, rarely manage to break through the “bottleneck” of the candidate selection process,” he comments.

“Young people do not disappear from the process, but they tend to be placed in positions on the ticket that are unlikely to guarantee their election,” explains Patrícia Silva.

The study highlights that it is mainly informal mechanisms, such as personal networks and support from party leadership, that determine the success of a young candidate, and not merit or presence in a ‘jota’.

“The parties must make an effort to reach out to young people or, on the other hand, for young people to reach out to the parties, but many young people feel used as mere transmitters of the party message, and not as full participants.”