Parliament enthusiastic about voting age amendments, educating youth about democracy highlighted

Discussions in parliament began today and are currently ongoing, focusing on amending the constitution in order to lower the voting age from 18 to 16 for general elections and MEP elections.

All political parties agree with these amendments. Once approved, Malta will be the second country to lower the voting age to 16, following Austria.

Youths are also present at parliament today in the Strangers' Gallery watching the process.

The motion was initiated by Parliamentary Secretary for Reforms Julia Farrugia Portelli. Farrugia Portelli explained that such an amendment will give the right to vote to another 8,500 individuals.

Expressing her 'trust' in youth,  Farrugia Portelli said that although youth groups from different political groups may have tiffs about other things, regarding this reform they were "a chain, fighting for the same thing."

"At the age of 16 you can legally choose to marry. If you can choose the person you want to spend the rest of your life with at that age, then why can't you vote for people to lead the country for the next five years?" she asked.

She added that the next step in reforms will focus on balancing women participation in politics.

PN whip David Agius seconded the motion, calling the reform "one of the nice moments in politics."

He said that educating youth with regards to politics and democratic principles should be the next step taken to work hand-in-hand with this amendment. He went on to propose a taskforce together with Education Minister Evarist Bartolo and Farrugia Portelli "to see what is needed to change the curriculum, so that they will understand what right they are gaining."

"We now need to educate our youth about democratic principles," he said.  Agius explained that he has pushed for the reform before, however it was never supported by all of parliament.

 

Obligatory student councils in schools to teach democracy

Speaking in Parliament, Education Minister Evarist Bartolo said that government schools will soon be obliged by law to have student councils whose role will be to have "a voice in the running of a school."

"The way to go about teaching democracy is to put it into practice," he said. "We should build a democratic culture by democracy being practiced in the classroom," he added.

from The Malta Independent http://ift.tt/2GvcDxt
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