Faced with a decrease in the rate of participation in the elections, the government of the United Kingdom intends to lower the legal age of the right to vote from 18 to 16 years.
Should Quebec and Canada do the same thing?
There are many arguments
Those who believe that 16-year-olds are not mature enough to understand the issues and to make informed decisions, remember that at 16, we have the right to drive, work and make medical decisions for oneself.
Does driving a vehicle requires more or less reasoning than expressing a vote?
We can oppose the right to vote for young people aged 16 by arguing that their participation rate would be low and that they are not very politicized.
However, in the courts where we vote from 16 years old, the opposite was found. In Austria, where practice has been in force since 2007, experience is positive and, in 2010, the 16-18 year olds were more numerous to vote than 23-25 year olds.
As for the argument of the low knowledge of political issues, by granting the right to vote earlier, it will necessarily be necessary to better prepare young people for civic life and to this, there is nothing bad.
Fertile ground for all parties
A recent light surveyThe newspaper indicated that 18-34 year olds were more favorable to sovereignty. This is not an automatic conclusion in favor of the country and this result should not serve as an argument for non -sovereignist parties to prefer the status quo to 18 years.
Admittedly, the lowering of the age of the right to vote requires a larger debate, but, if that made sure that the parties devote more efforts to take care of our youth, that they think more about future generations, it seems to me that it could be beneficial for all.