Youth and Elections

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Topic IndexObstacles at the structural level

The following issues are hindering young people’s participation at the structural level:

Age requirements to vote or run for office. The first barrier for youth participation is the minimum voting age requirement set for national elections at 18 in most countries, which disenfranchises younger citizens. The second barrier for youth participation is the minimum age for eligibility to run for office, which is often set higher than the age to vote.

Age restriction in campaigning in some of the countries. As youth (15-35) encompasses “minors without voting rights’, “minors with voting rights’ and “young adults with voting rights’ some electoral laws penalize political parties who use minors for campaigning. It can be a challenge to both protect youth and encourage their participation at the same time.

Increased costs for candidate nomination and campaigning and the lack of political finance regulations make it even more difficult for youth to start a political career. Similarly, if parties are not giving financial support to young candidates at the same rates as for older candidates, they are disadvantaged.

Social and cultural traditions. In most societies, politics has been for centuries a domain of older, often male and wealthy citizens, a situation that has resulted in the systematic exclusion of young people from political debates and decision-making and thus contributed to the under representation of youth. Despite a broad consensus that young people have an important role to play in political processes, the participation of youth in politics remains a sensitive issue in some regions. While participation of all citizens at the local level is the cornerstone to build healthy democracies, it is often at the local level that young people are not given the opportunity to participate in decision-making processes.

Young women are in many countries subject to “double discrimination” based on their age and gender. They also often experience additional obstacles compared with men. Because of social conventions and/or insecure or unsafe environments, women still face serious barriers to get registered as voters and to cast their votes. Some age eligibility for candidacy (such as between 25-30 years old) can negatively affect women’s decision to run for the office, as this age bracket is sometimes the age where women “are expected” to get married or have children. They are also underrepresented as staff in EMBs, particularly in senior positions.[i] Despite gender quotas established by many EMBs for boards or commissioner posts, other senior leadership positions are still mainly or even solely male-dominated.

[i] A survey among 35 EMBs conducted by UNDP and UN Women in 2011–2012 highlighted the dominance of male leadership in the surveyed EMBs. UNDP and UN WOMEN, Inclusive Electoral Processes: A Guide for Electoral Management Bodies on Promoting Gender Equality and Women’s Participation, (UNDP and UN WOMEN, 2015), http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/librarypage/democratic-governance/electoral_systemsandprocesses/guide-for-electoral-management-bodies-on-promoting-gender-equali.html.

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ELECTORAL FRAMEWORK

ELECTORAL PARTICIPATION

ELECTORAL MANAGEMENT

ELECTORAL INTEGRITY

ELECTORAL OPERATIONS

Youth and Elections