16/03/2011 Political Affairs and Democracy
In a report on the expansion of democracy by lowering the voting age to 16, member States are invited to create the necessary preconditions for the participation of young people in civic life through education as well as the promotion of community involvement and to investigate the possibility of lowering the voting age to 16 years in all countries and for all kinds of elections. They should also examine the possibility of lowering the minimum ages to stand for different kinds of elections (parliament, senate, presidency, local and regional bodies) whenever advisable. The report by Miloš Aligrudiċ (Serbia, EPP/CD) was adopted by the PACE Political Affairs Committee at its meeting in Paris on 9 March. The report is due to be debated by the Parliamentary Assembly during its next session in Strasbourg, on Wednesday 13 April.
The Committee stressed that particular emphasis must be placed on the principle of democracy, which calls for the participation of the largest possible number of people in policy-making and in politics; on the constant concern of all democrats to extend and improve the democratic functioning of our societies; on the possibility of bringing new blood into the electorate and thus giving greater expression to the concerns of the younger generation and on the importance of effectively combating the growing danger of the exclusion of young people and the concern to do everything possible to facilitate their integration into the structures of society.