Why shouldn't 16-year-olds be allowed to vote? With this question, a broad alliance is heading towards a referendum in Bavaria. The crowd of supporters is growing rapidly. But there is still a long way to go.
Munich (dpa / lby) - Bavaria may be heading for a referendum to lower the voting age in state and local elections from 18 to 16 years. In addition to the Bavarian Youth Council, the Greens, SPD and FDP also want to support the relevant initiative. That said one of the initiators, Franz Wacker from the Catholic rural youth movement, the German Press Agency. With such broad support, the first hurdle, collecting 25,000 signatures, should be easy. The application for the referendum should then be submitted around the summer – i.e. in the middle of the 2023 state election campaign. According to Wacker, the goal is to lower the voting age by the time of the 2026 local elections and the 2028 state elections.
"The central question is not: Why should 16-year-olds be allowed to vote? But: Why shouldn't 16-year-olds be allowed to vote?" said Wacker. "Young people today are probably more motivated and committed than they have been for a long time. That's why they should be able to elect the state parliament and their local parliaments in addition to the European Parliament," he demanded.
In recent years, various attempts in the state parliament to lower the voting age have failed - the CSU is against it. Now the "Vote 16" initiative wants to enforce this through a referendum. In a first step, 25,000 eligible voters must support the initiative by signing it. If there is a referendum, ten percent of all Bavarians entitled to vote must register in lists in their town halls within two weeks. If this quorum is reached, the state government and state parliament must deal with it. For a lowering of the voting age - for which the Bavarian constitution has to be changed - a referendum is necessary one way or another.
Green parliamentary group leader Katharina Schulze said about the new initiative: “The lowering of the voting age in state and local elections takes young people seriously and strengthens our democracy. Why shouldn’t 16 and 17-year-olds be allowed to have a say in politics when it comes to their own future ?"
SPD country leader Florian von Brunn argued: "Young people have a right to have a say in their future." But the CSU and Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) are on the brakes. "Markus Söder obviously has no confidence in this generation."
FDP leader Martin Hagen emphasized that the right to vote from the age of 16 already exists in many other federal states in local and state elections. "Particularly in an aging society, it is important that the interests of young people are also taken into account," he said.
The President of the Bavarian Youth Association, Matthias Fack, said: "Together as a network and together with parties, we want something to change and young people to be involved. That's why we are committed to finally lowering the voting age in Bavaria too."
The German Trade Union Confederation also supports the initiative. "Many young people take on responsibility in internships, training and part-time jobs, but they are not allowed to participate in the democratic decision-making process," criticized DGB country chief Bernhard Stiedl - lowering the voting age would therefore be "an important signal".
