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• Eesti Noorteühenduste Liit (ENL) is a umbrella organization connecting – 43 youth organizations – 15 county youth councils– 70 local youth councils
• ENL was established in 2002
• ENL is a member of the European Youth Forum and the Network of Estonian Non-Profit Organizations
Estonian National Youth Council (ENL)
Youth politics:- All young people should be accepted as equally
important parts of society- Politicians must consider young people’s needs in
legislation- Political platform by ENL before elections
Vote@16:- Young people from 16 should be allowed to vote in
local elections
What we do
During the Estonian Congress elections in 1990, the voting age was already set at 16 in Estonia. This practice was unfortunately not maintained for any future elections and there is no good data available from that period.
Quick Note – let’s bring the 90’s back!
- Criminal responsibility – 14- Age of Consent – 14- Marriage with parents agreement – 15- Contracted work – 7- Mandatory education – primary school or until
17- First driving license – 16- Registered for conscription – 16- Right to petition - 16- Required to pay taxes – birth!
- etc
Age limits in Estonia in general
First statement by ENL:• 17.11.2007 the GA adopted ENL’s position
paper on youth participation, including the provision supporting vote@16 for local elections
– Main reasoning from that paper: demographic change, active discussions globally, already existing positive examples, natural development of Estonian youth policy
– In 2007 it would have impacted 40 000 young people, meaning 3% of the population and 4% of the electorate.
Vote@16 and ENL
Before lowering the voting age:
• Make youth inclusion mandatory via the Youth Act
• Establish a more advanced civil studies programme in schools
• Start actively developing local and regional youth councils
Vote@16 and ENL
• Democratic principles• Citizenship education• Preventing social and political
withdrawal• Readiness• Good examples elsewhere
Current arguments for vote@16
• Not mature enough• Lack of political interest• There other ways to participate• Can we really compare with other
countries?• Public opinion is still against
vote@16• Political influence in schools, etc• Youth leaning towards extremes• Youth Councils are still weak
Common arguments against vote@16
• League of Young Voters• Shadow Elections• Development of Youth Councils• Seminars, Conferences• Research
Activities related to vote@16
• Discussing vote@16 was included in the national coalitions platform in 2011
• However left out when the coalition changed in March 2014
… however.
Latest developments
Since both the governing Social Democratic Party and Reform Party in principal agree with lowering the voting to 16 for local elections a parliamentary draft bill was introduced on the 1st of July by 21 MPs from SDP and REF.
The bill passed the 1st Parliamentary Reading on the 16th of September 2014, amendments can be submitted by the 16th of October 2014.
Latest developments
Proposing vote@16 for local elections, starting with 2017, the change would affect around 20 000 16-17 year olds (1.9% of the total population and 2.3% of the total voting age population after the change).
Both this and the next Parliament must pass the bill for it to become a constitutional amendment.
Latest developments
Thank you!
www.enl.eewww.facebook.com/ENLiit
[email protected] / gerdtarand.eu / twitter / facebook / Instagram
– and all that…
