The Danes are tired of old politicians. Election researchers will have age on the ballot paper.
It would be wise, thinks Danish-Norwegian election researcher.
In just a few days, our Danish neighbors will go to the polls in the local and regional elections.
For several years, it has been getting young representatives in the city and regional councils of the country.
In 24 of the country’s 98 municipalities, not a single politician under the age of 30 was elected in his municipal election in 2017.
That worries many.
Election researcher and professor at the University of Copenhagen, Kasper Møller Hansen, proposes a possible solution.
– We are screaming for young people in the city councils around. So just telling the voters what age the candidates are can help them prioritize the young representatives, he says to Danish DR.
Today’s Danish ballot papers do not say when those who stand for election were born. It is time to change, Møller believes:
– I think it will be a great help for the younger candidates if they get the opportunity to flash their age on the ballot, so it will be easier to see where they are hiding, he says.
Think age can matter a lot
In Norway, the candidates’ year of birth is has been on the ballot paper since 2003.
– There is a long tradition for this in Norway, and no one questions it. There is widespread agreement that the representation must be broad and that age is important in the connection.
This is what Signe Bock Segaard, a political scientist and election researcher at the Department of Social Research, says. She grew up in Denmark, but has lived in Norway for over 20 years.
She emphasizes that no specific research has been done on whether it matters that the age of the candidates is on the ballot paper. But we have still experienced something:
– In Norway, we conducted experiments with voting rights for 16- and 17-year-olds in 2011 and 2015 in selected municipalities. At that time, several younger candidates were elected in these municipalities even in the rest of the country.
It is difficult to say for sure what this was due to, says Segaard, but adds:
– That the young voters contributed to voting in the young, there is probably not much doubt. When you stand in the polling station and want to give a personal vote, then age can act as a mark that helps the voter to find a candidate that he or she can identify with.
Believes Denmark is lagging behind Norway
The election researcher says that Norway has a much stronger tradition of thinking that certain groups should be included in local decision-making processes, and they have in Denmark.
She points out that in Norway, among other things, there are youth councils in the municipalities and councils for people with disabilities.
– In Norway, we have also had a strong focus on gender in politics. It is 40 years since the great coup took place. We take it for granted that the parties are aware of this, we take it for granted that the media think about it and in debate programs we expect there to be a certain gender distribution. Also in boards, we also think about gender distribution, says Segard.
She believes that people do not have the same attitude in Denmark.
– There is a continuing debate. The Metoo campaign first came to Denmark properly last year. It came to Norway several years ago. The debate about the representation and significance of socio-demographic characteristics is completely different in Denmark than in Norway, she says.
More young representatives in Norway
If you compare Denmark with Norway, there are twice as many municipal council representatives under the age of 30 in Norway.
Segaard has no doubt that information on the age of representatives is relevant. She thinks it is time for Denmark to take action to get more young people in, and she asks:
– Should we expect voters to obtain information themselves, or should we make it simple and inform about it on the ballot paper?
The Danes go to the polls on Tuesday 16 November. Although the proposal from election researcher Møller Hansen in Denmark may be well received, it will be too late to change the ballot papers now.