A survey carried out during the last month revealed, that the absolute majority of young people, are aware and agree with extending the vote to 16-17 year olds for the Local Council Elections.

The results of the survey, which was conducted by Agenzija Zghazagh, was presented to the media by Parliamentary Secretary for Research, Innovation, Youth and Sport, Stefan Buontempo at a conference to mark the launch of the 5th Youth Local Councils.

Dr Buontempo highlighted the main findings of this survey, amongst which that the young people are still not prepared to be given the opportunity to extend the right to vote to general elections, national referenda or European parliament elections. When it comes to young people contesting such elections themselves, the majority of them still feel that they are not as yet prepared to contest such elections.

Parliamentary Secretary Buontempo said that this study was commissioned to assess the effectiveness of the Vote 16 educational campaign that is being coordinated by Agenzija Zghazagh. This study will enable Agenzija Zghazagh to fine tune its educational campaign for the coming months.

Focusing on Youth Local Councils, Dr Buontempo said that with the participation of around 250 young people and 29 Local Councils, the Youth Local Councils project is a measure by which youths are encouraged to participate actively in their community by proposing projects on democracy, active citizenship, social dialogue and inclusion among others.

The launch of the 5th edition of the Youth Local Councils was attended by representatives of Local Councils who participated in the previous editions.

More information can be obtained from Agenzija Zghazagh on 22586713 or on www.agenzijazghazagh.gov.mt.

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