Thursday, November 23, 2023 - 10:25

The Government has published a consultation paper on the lowering of the voting age to 16. This was a pledge in the GSLP/Liberal manifesto for the general election of 12 October. The paper was tabled in the newly elected Gibraltar Parliament which met yesterday for the first time.

ELECTION
The idea of young people aged 16 and 17 being able to vote in a general election is not a new one, and there are a number of countries where this happens already. In the British family, those aged 16 and over are allowed to vote in parliamentary elections in Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. They can also vote in elections to the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly. Indeed, famously 16 and 17 year olds were allowed to vote in the 2014 referendum on Scottish independence, where 75% of such youngsters on the electoral register actually voted.