New Zealand lawmakers are to vote on whether to lower the national voting age from 18 to 16, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said yesterday.
Her announcement came hours after the country’s Supreme Court ruled that not allowing those aged 16 and 17 to vote amounted to age discrimination.
While Ardern said she personally favors lowering the age, such a change would require 75 percent of lawmakers to agree.
Photo: AP
Proponents are not sure how many lawmakers would vote in favor of the change.
A number of countries are debating whether to lower their voting ages. Some that allow people to vote at 16 include Austria, Malta, Brazil, Cuba and Ecuador.
Sanat Singh, co-director of New Zealand’s Make It 16 campaign, said he was very happy with the court’s decision.
“It’s a huge day,” he said. “This is historic not only for our campaign, but for the country.”
Singh, 18, said issues such as climate change, pandemic management and the state of democracy most affect young people.
“That’s why I think it’s really important to get all hands on deck to make sure we can have a stronger future,” he said.
Ardern, who leads the Labour Party, said that lawmakers from across the party spectrum should have a say on the issue.
“I personally support a decrease in the voting age, but it is not a matter simply for me or even the government,” Ardern said. “Any change in electoral law of this nature requires 75 percent of parliamentarians’ support.”
Ardern said the vote would likely take place within the coming months, but any change would not take effect until after next year’s general election.
The New Zealand Green Party said it supports a change.
“Young people deserve to have a say in the decisions that affect them, both now and in the future,” party electoral reform spokesperson Golriz Ghahraman said.
However, New Zealand’s two main conservative opposition parties said they oppose a change.
“It’s not something we support,” New Zealand National Party leader Christopher Luxon told reporters. “Ultimately, you’ve got to draw the line somewhere, and we’re comfortable with the line being 18.”
Four Supreme Court judges found in favor of the lobby group’s appeal, with a fifth judge dissenting to some aspects of the decision.
In New Zealand, the protection against age discrimination begins at 16, and the judges ruled that New Zealand Attorney-General David Parker had failed to show why 18 had been chosen as the age to vote rather than 16.
The nature of the court’s ruling compels New Zealand lawmakers to at least debate the issue, but it did not compel them to hold a vote on the matter or to make a change.
Singh said he is hopeful that while his group might not yet have the 75 percent support it needs in parliament, it could get there within the next few years.
He said a possible first step would be to get the voting age lowered to 16 for local council elections, as that change requires only a regular majority of lawmakers.
New Zealand’s voting age was previously lowered from 21 to 20 in 1969, and then to 18 in 1974.
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