Effective
participation of youth in politics is critical to democratic developments
around the globe. Over the past years, many countries have seen a sharp
increase in their youth population. At present, more than half of the world’s
population of 7.4 billion is between 20 and 44. Narrowing down the age bracket,
an estimated 1.2 billion are between 15 and 24. In this context, youth
participation in democratic processes overall and in elections more specifically
is becoming more important to practitioners (such as EMBs, political parties
and civil society organizations) and assistance providers alike.
Young
persons are often marginalized from formal political processes. For example,
they are less likely to be members of political parties and they are less
likely to be registered and to vote on election day. At the same time, youth
are critical to social and political transformation – testified by recent e.g.
the Jasmine Revolution in Tunis in 2011 and the Burkinabe uprising in Burkina
Faso in 2014. Over the past few years, major youth protests have also been
voiced through social media such as the Y'en
a marre and Occupy
Central campaigns in Senegal and Hong Kong, respectively, and the #feesmustfall
initiative in South Africa. Although having seemingly withdrawn from the formal
political processes, they are not disengaged in politics as such.
Electoral
management bodies (EMBs) play a critical role when it comes to engaging youth
in electoral processes. Traditionally, EMBs have aimed to increase turnout
among youth through targeted campaigns for youth to register and vote. In
recent years, this approach have included the use of internet and social media.
However, there is a need for EMBs to develop more sophisticated approaches and
to consider alternative methods that will produce higher involvement among
youth (IDEA 2015). One possible area of engagement is ensuring that young
electoral candidates have required knowledge about the electoral process and
the legal framework. Another area includes taking measures to assert the
involvement of youth in the management of elections.
In the
context of the Removing Barriers to Youth Participation, International IDEA has
gathered experiences from EMBs work in the field of promoting youth
participation in Africa. The case studies – available below – were presented in
the Roundtable on Elections & Youth that was organized in Centurion (South
Africa) on 24-26 November 2015 and provided the basis for the IDEA Policy Brief
on Youth Participation in Electoral Processes:
New Roles for African Electoral Management Bodies (also available in French).
