Are the youth ready to co-determine the future of the country? The debate on lowering the election age is temporing.
Britain has declared changes to the electoral code. The British government announces that 16-year-olds will have the right to vote by the next parliamentary elections in 2029. So far Wales and Scotland have allowed younger people to vote. As Vice Prime Minister Angela Rayner says: "We are taking action to guarantee that more people can engage in British democracyIt’s okay. ”
The desire to lower the electoral threshold for a long time has been announced by the current ruling Labour organization country. The programme manifesto announced by them on the occasion of the 2024 elections promised changes, inter alia arguing that, since specified young people frequently pay taxes, they should besides have basic civilian rights guaranteed. According to GOV UK taxation returns for 2021 were made by almost 300 000 teenagers, with an estimated population of around 1.5 million people aged between 16 and 18. They could be the ones who get the right to vote.
Polish legal realities
In Poland, the right to vote is granted to persons who are 18 years of age, which is treated as the limit of civic adulthood. At the same time, from the age of 17, you can be punished as an adult, and from the age of 15 after certain conditions, specified as completion of primary school and obtaining a medical certificate, young people can legally take up work and pay taxes.
Young Poles can so work earlier, bear criminal work and power the state budget, but they do not yet have an impact on the choice of authorities that decide all this.
Does specified a arrangement actually reflect the maturity and work of young people, or does it make conflicting demands?
It is crucial to build a liable and democratic society. It is frequently stressed that it is essential to build the identity and political maturity of young people. Sooner or later, these people will come to vote, and enabling them to do so earlier would contribute to the improvement of civic education and positively influence the formation of the worldview.
The importance of the youngest voters is besides widely stressed in public discourse. ICCS studies In 2022, they indicate that the survey of civic competence of children and young people in Poland is at a very advanced level. This is about communication skills and group work. This besides involves cognition of society and the state. There are many another aspects.
The 16-17 age group is best informed about media, net and technology management mechanisms. The efficiency of getting information and moving online is 1 of the most effective. It involves detecting fake news, utilizing artificial intelligence and another tools made available by modern technologies. In addition, there is an knowing of modern problems facing the world. The vast majority of young people are aware of the climate risks and their aspects.
Why isn't it worth the vote?
Opponents of lowering the election age to 16 argue that young people do not yet have adequate emotional maturity or life experience to make full liable political decisions. It is pointed out that while any 16-year-olds are socially involved, as a group they frequently do not have a developed sense of work for the consequences of their own election decisions.
In addition, many young people of this age have limited civic and political knowledge.
They are not yet included in the full curriculum of subjects specified as cognition of society, and their interest in public life is limited. This can consequence in a vote under the influence of emotion or momentary trends, without a deeper knowing of political mechanisms.
Critics besides fear that people aged 16-17 are peculiarly prone to manipulation, especially in social media, where simplified and populist messages frequently dominate. In addition, they mostly do not work, pay taxes and do not live alone, which, according to critics, limits their real knowing of the functioning of the state and economical system. There is besides a hazard that political parties could usage this group of voters in an instrumental way, directing populist and unrealistic promises to it only to get votes. Finally, at the age of 16 there is not yet strong social force to participate in the elections, so attendance in this group could be low, which would undermine the sense of change.
The specified inclusion of younger voters in the electoral strategy would besides mean that it should be rebuilt, including the adaptation of information campaigns and educational systems, resulting in costs and uncertain effects. All these factors make many critics mention to the thought of lowering the voting age.
What are the conditions in Poland?
Based on data Central Statistical Office It can be concluded that by changing the law and lowering the electoral age, electoral capacity would have gained a small over a million people. Importantly, how does CBOS, over 80% Poles are against its reduction.
However, many politicians do not hide their views and say that specified a solution would be right. Simon Holovnia has been speaking openly about specified value for a long time changes. Interestingly, the Minister of National Education, Barbara Nowacka does not hide her religion in specified an thought either, and for example, in a conversation with Bogdan Rymanowski on Radio Zet says: "An interesting solution, I would be a supporter due to the fact that I see what a young generation is like." Nevertheless, no change is presently to be expected in this regard, as nothing announces them.
Whose side are the young on?
The public took the view that Polish youth support alternatively right-wing parties. On the another hand, it is frequently pointed out in the public debate that the young generation is primarily progressive left-wing. In any case, the radicalization of young people has become a subject.
The age group between 16 and 24 became a kind of cup to be won for each group. Most parties want to pride themselves on their support.
Opinion 24 for the Foundation crucial Affairs and More in Common of November 2024 shows that the Confederation has the top support, gaining as much as 26%. The Citizen Coalition is next – 15%, Poland 2050 – 8%, PiS – 8% and Nowa Lewica with 7% of support. Importantly, this data examines the support of the age group between 18 and 24 years old, so with the simplification of the electoral age required, the scale could change completely.
The question so remains, how much would the results of groups in Poland change if advanced school students took part in elections? The answer comes from the advanced schoolers themselves.
Draft Young People Vote For any time now, he's been investigating who the youngest sympathizes with. Data available for 2024 from 358 institutions and for over 37,000 students show somewhat different results than those previously indicated, but they are close. Based on this information, the Civic Coalition is the top favourite of the students, gaining 22.4% of support and then the Confederation with a score of 21.5%. The 3rd place in this ranking occupied the 3rd Way through the dissolution of the coalition, gaining 19.2%. Then the PiS and Left take place, besides before hanging up. The full attendance of those entitled to vote was 46%. Interestingly, each school has its own circumstantial student community, which usually dominates a peculiar worldview. As a result, most students identify in 1 facility with e.g. left-wing views, while in another the centre views prevail.
An example is the simulation of presidential elections conducted by Student Government in
. The Citizen Coalition candidate, Rafał Trzaskowski, obtained 250 votes, and the remainder of the candidates did not break the threshold of 50 votes. W
won Adrian Zandberg, gaining 29.3% of the vote. He was chased by Rafał Trzaskowski with 27.2% of support. another candidates did not exceed the 10% threshold. The last 2 examples show that there are student communities that unequivocally sympathize with any political group. However, it seems that if the electoral threshold were lowered, the Polish political scene could change significantly.
Responsibility and trust
Is lowering the election age a bold step towards the future or a risky experiment?
The example of Britain, although frequently cited as a model, does not give a clear answer. The test results are scattered and ambiguous. On the 1 hand, they show that younger voters can make mature decisions, on the another hand, that their participation in elections is limited. There is no clear conclusion, and that is what it says in itself.
In Poland, the question of the inclusion of younger citizens in the electoral process is becoming more and more relevant.
Young people are curious in politics, organize protests, make social movements, but at the same time they frequently feel ignored by state policy.
Their views are becoming more and more recognizable by the examination of opinions, and the support given by the individual parties can surprise with their consistency or abrupt changes. This generation has its language, its values and its imagination of the future that it would like to co-create. Would lowering the election age be an impulse for greater commitment or alternatively an empty gesture? Are we willing to trust the young adequate to give them a real influence on the state? Or is it not age, but the quality of civic education and the space to express views are crucial? There is no clear answer today. However, this may be the very essence of democracy, in the constant question and readiness to talk in the hope that the future – although uncertain – can be worked out together.
Source:
1. GOV.UK: From pensioners to teachers, HRRC reveals who files a taxation return
2. planet Population Review: Voting Age by Country 2025
3. What Scotland Thoughts: So How Many 16 and 17 Year Olds Voted? Based on ICM
4. Votes-at-16 in Scotland 2014 – 2021 Jan Eichhorn and Christine Hübner
5. A False Start Votes-at-16 in Wales in the 2021 Welsh Parliament | Senedd Cymru election James David Griffiths, Jac Larner, Richard Wyn Jones, and Ed Gareth Poole
6. Gov.pl: We have learned the results of the ICCS 2022 global civilian Competence survey – Polish students in the world's leading position
7. CSO: Population structure
8. CBOS: Poles about proposed changes in electoral law
9. Yotube, Janusz Jaskoółka: 16 years old and to the urn. Szymon Holovnia about the simplification of election age.
10. crucial matters: Young voters – how they live in Poland and who they vote for
11. investigation made available by the Student Government of XXI LO in Łódź and III LO in Łódź.