Is Zurich paving the way for national regulation?
On voting Sunday, the canton of Zurich will decide whether the voting age should be lowered to 16. This could have national repercussions.
the essentials in brief
- The Canton of Zurich votes on lowering the voting age to 16.
- The FDP, SVP and EDU are united against the request.
- The result WILL influence the discussion of a national bill in one way or another.
On May 15, votes are announced again. Three templates are voted for nationally, but there are also numerous cantonal voting topics. One of them is the parliamentary initiative for a voting age of 16 in the canton of Zurich.
Reducing the voting age has been a hotly debated topic for years. Again and again it comes up in parliaments – again and again it is rejected. Only in the canton of Glarus are 16 and 17-year-olds allowed to have a say. However, something is also happening at the national level.
The SVP warns against “radical left” boys
In Switzerland’s largest canton, there will soon be a vote. The alliance of GLP, SP, Greens, EPP, Mitte and AL started their campaign under the motto “Democracy Update”. Only FDP, SVP and EDU reject the request. The corresponding young parties represent the same opinion as their parent parties.
The right-wing parties argue that rights must be linked to obligations: Many obligations, such as paying taxes, only have to be recorded from the age of 18.
The SVP goes even further and warns of a “radical left group of minors” who will “determine” the canton. Young people are “manipulative mass for the left”, bourgeois would also lose power and influence. This claim has already been refuted with surveys; young people are most attracted to pole parties, including the SVP.
Youngsters are a minority
Proponents, on the other hand, believe that younger age groups also have a say. One cannot expect strong polarization either, says the Yes camp: The 16 and 17-year-olds who could vote and vote at all would only make up 2.4 percent of all those entitled to vote. So there can hardly be any talk of a canton of Zurich that would be governed by the climate strike.
Science also supports the voting age of 16: According to political scientist Claude Longchamp, it would even be a suitable means of correcting the age imbalance in votes and elections. There are also indications that people who go to vote early also regularly exercise their rights later on. All of this would strengthen democracy, proponents argue, because voting participation would increase.
Do you support voting age 16?
No matter how the canton of Zurich WILL decide: The result of the vote will have an impact on the national discussion. Opponents of a voting age of 16 in Switzerland argued with the previous no slogans of the cantonal population. However, should the most populous canton say yes, that could not simply be brushed aside.
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