On Wednesday, Storting considered a Liberal Party bill that would give those under the age of 16 the right to vote. In advance, the proposal received support from Raudt, SV, the Labor Party and the MDG. But when the case came to a vote, 78 people voted in favor of the motion and 88 voted in favor.
When the proposal was discussed at the Regulatory and Constitutional Committee in Sorting a week ago, a majority put forward a recommendation. Open to 16 and 17 year olds to get the right to vote.
But the motion did not get a majority in Sporting.
Test program
Sveinung Rotevatn (V) was one of those behind the proposal. In Sorting, he pointed out that this is not the first time they have discussed the issue. When he was already the new delegate in 2013, there was a proposal at the table.
Back then, pioneering programs were launched in many municipalities with the right to vote for those under the age of 16 and 17.
– And all these pilot projects have shown positive results. We saw there was a high turnout in the group, they voted “regularly” and more young people joined the municipal council, Rottweiler from Rotterdam said.
He receives support from his party colleague Alfred Jens Bjørlo, who is our mayor in a municipality with a pioneering plan.
– I think time works in this case. The majority of this is the imperative of the times. I wish it was now, he said.
Majority age and voting age
Among the parties to the motion, special emphasis was placed on the fact that today’s 16- and 17-year-olds have very different singers. They also believed that there should be a correspondence between the majority age and the voting age.
– Sometimes the majority age and voting age were different. But Peter Frolich (H) said that we have never had it that the voting age is lower than the majority age.
That said you are using a kind of greed when you exercise the right to vote.
– It is good to be involved and participate in democracy, even if you are under 18, he said.
Minor opponents have a load of evidence
The MDG was among the parties that supported the Liberal Party’s proposal. Party leader Une Pastolm thinks it is wrong to use age against today’s 16-year-olds, and thinks that those who voted against now have the burden of proof when they think young people are ineligible to vote.
– Our democracy is strengthened when more people take part in it. In a liberal democracy, those who want to deny the right to vote have a burden of evidence against them. We must have good reasons to deny 16- and 17-year-olds the right to vote.
Alberte Tennøe Bekkhus, a tenant for Raud Youth, thinks Sporting Youth is robbing them of the right to influence local democracy by repealing the proposal.
– 16-year-olds also use municipal and district municipal services. They are also affected by the decisions made by politicians and are no less concerned than the elders. Nonetheless, Sporting put his feet down to contest the under-16s election. Is disappointing.
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