New Zealand contemplating regulation to permit 16-year-olds to vote

New Zealand is contemplating a regulation to permit 16-year-olds to vote after the Supreme Court dominated that the present voting age of 18 is discriminatory.

New Delhi,UPDATED: Nov 22, 2022 07:19 IST

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is in favour of lowering voting age to 16. (Photo: Reuters)

By India Today Web Desk: New Zealand is contemplating reducing the voting age from 18 to 16 and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has promised to convey a regulation in Parliament.

The resolution to think about granting voting rights to 16-year-olds was taken after a landmark Supreme Court ruling that the present age of 18 was “discriminatory” and breached human rights of younger folks, reported The Guardian.

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While PM Jacinda Ardern personally helps the change, the Bill to cut back the voting age would require the assist of no less than 75 per cent of complete MPs in Parliament. The authorities presently doesn’t have the numbers to move such a Bill.

“I personally support a decrease in the voting age but it is not a matter simply for me or even the government, any change in electoral law of this nature requires 75 per cent of parliamentarian support,” Jacinda Ardern was quoted as saying by The Independent on Monday.

The New Zealand court docket argued that youthful folks ought to have the ability to vote on points such because the local weather disaster, which can disproportionately have an effect on them and their futures. Only a handful of nations akin to Brazil, Austria and Cuba enable these below 18 to vote.

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Published On:

Nov 22, 2022