Should 16-year-olds vote in the referendum?

Following recent amendments to the law, 16-year-olds will now be eligible to vote in local council elections. The amendment passed by the Maltese parliamentarians refers strictly to the ability to vote in local elections. But with a government decision to hold the local council elections with the abrogative referendum on spring hunting, the question arose on why the young adults shouldn’t be able to have their say in a referendum as well.

The reasons, in reality, are not many and appear to boil down to one issue: the legal aspect of the proposal and how it would affect the legitimacy of the result of the referendum.

The legalism of it all was explained by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat in parliament, who said that the referendum process has already begun with a set of rules that does not include the right of 16-year-olds to vote.

“If the goalposts are changed now, the referendum will be opened up to fresh challenges from the hunters,” Muscat told parliament.

One must also not forget that back in August 2013 Muscat had told members of the Vote 16 committee that, depending on the success of the Vote 16 campaign, the voting age could be lowered for general elections, European Parliament elections and referenda. But before this could happen – which would also require another consultation process – the local council elections have “to turn out to be a success”.

Sociologist Michael Briguglio, who is supporting the ‘No’ to spring hunting campaign, is all for 16-year-olds to be granted a vote in the referendum as well. But he admits that this could create legalistic problems.

“I agree that 16-year-olds should be able to vote in all elections and, as chairman of Alternattiva Demokratika, I had campaigned for it. But at the same time one cannot discard the fact that the referendum process kicked off on a set of rules. If we play around with the rules now it can open a Pandora’s box and the referendum outcome would be questioned,” he said.

Briguglio pointed out that the electorate as defined in the Referendum Act was the same electorate eligible to vote in the general elections, meaning 18-year-olds and older.

The former AD chairperson does not exclude that there are voting calculations being made by those who are against changing the process now, an assumption that was also made by Andrew Azzopardi, senior lecturer on youth and community studies.

“Indeed, the government followed its political committment. But then there is the political bickering that victimises young people. I think that the political parties have made their own calculations and saw that there are potentially 10,000 votes that can impact the final result of the referendum,” he said.

Azzopardi argued that the final message sent by the political parties was that they were not truly convinced that youths should have a direct say in the democratic processes of the country.

“Talks of a referendum have been going on for months; the question was only when it would happen. The discussion would have taken place earlier if they truly believed that 16-year-olds should be able to vote in a referendum. But I don’t think that the political parties are truly convinced about it.”

Azzopardi said that today’s 16-year-olds are the 18-year-olds of 15 years ago and society may not have fully understood how to handle this reality. He pointed out that a 16-year-old could legally have his own business, get married and, aged 17, be allowed to drink alcohol.

Frustrated at the whole concept, Azzopardi added it also didn’t make any sense that a 16-year-old was eligible to vote in the local elections but did not enjoy the right to contest the same elections.

The debate started last Monday when PN MP Charlo Bonnici, fresh from his recent appointment as hunting spokesman, asked Muscat in parliament whether he would consider allowing the 16-year-olds to take part in the referendum.

“I know that it is a subject that interests youths and since the Prime Minister was talking about the local council elections when he announced the referendum question, I asked whether the government would be ready to consider that option. It was a question; there was an answer and the issue stopped there,” Bonnici told MaltaToday when asked what inspired the proposal now.

He added that the Opposition felt that if the Prime Minister had truly wanted to extend the young adults’ vote to the referendum, the government would have started the process earlier.

“We have our doubts as to whether Muscat’s justification is what truly is stopping this step. Talks of a referendum have been going on since the country was debating when the local elections should be held…he [Muscat] could have proposed then to extend their voting rights.”

But Justice Minister Owen Bonnici said the government’s position was determined by purely legal considerations based on the principle of certainty of the law.

“The referendum process started with a set of rules, regulating the compiling and eventual filing of the petition as well. Changing goalposts would risk opening the current referendum process to a judicial challenge. The referendum was called on a given set of rules and it must be taken to a conclusion on those same rules,” he said.

Owen Bonnici added that government’s commitment was for 16-year-olds to vote in local council elections, while will continue to “progress and develop” after the elections.

So what do the youths think?

Two ‘Vote 16 ambassadors’ were asked by MaltaToday whether they should be able to vote in the upcoming referendum, and they held different opinions.

Clara Grixti, of Siggiewi, said the right to vote in a referendum was essential for youths.

“If we are given the right to vote in the council elections then we are as responsible to vote in a referendum. Referenda are important for us too because they impact our future too. Of course, voting in a referendum also means that we have to be responsible and consider all options in order to make an informed choice.”

Georvin Bugeja, of Bormla, welcomed the political parties’ decision to allow young adults to have their say in local elections.

“I believe that this was a big step forward for our island and that finally we are spreading the values of democracy further. Having said that, one must keep in mind that this legislation will be tested in the next local elections and therefore the outcome of this is not yet known,” Bugeja said.

Arguing that the process for the referendum started before the legislation of vote16 was put into place Bugeja said it would be “rather disrespectful” to change the “rules to the game” now after a decision by a court was taken.

“It is highly understandable that there is excitement between young adults who are willing to express their opinions and feel that with their contributions they are building a better society for themselves. But one should always keep in mind that this is a binding referendum, and that the outcome would lead to a change in legislation. Therefore having such a short notice to introduce this to young adults would create confusion and there would be a possibility of having uninformed choices.”

As expected, there was not much variation between what the political parties and their youth affiliates think.

Alternattiva Demokratika Zghazagh (ADZ) said Labour and the PN had always agreed to the vote 16 for local councils.

“We believe in a society where youth are fully empowered and included. A referendum such as this one would give a fresh voice to the electorate by including 16-18 year olds in the voting process, who should have the right to vote in such a democratic process in order to be fully contributing citizens to our society,” ADZ secretary general Anna Azzopardi said.

MZPN president Matthew Agius said the PN’s youth branch saw no possible logical reasoning behind 16- and 17- year old youths being deprived their right to vote in the referendum.

“All political parties are now in agreement that they are mature enough to vote at local elections on the very same day the referendum will be held,” he said, arguing that not allowing them to vote was “hypocritical”.

“These 10,000 youths should not be deprived of what would be a great chance for them to express themselves in a logical non-partisan manner – on an issue that affects the society they live in. In his words, Muscat had pledged to youths that he wants to see them as protagonists – why is he hesitating in his actions?”

Forum Zghazagh Laburisti president Alex Saliba said the FZL was of the belief that only those aged 18 and above should be able to vote in the referendum.

“We believe that the rules should not change halfway through the electoral process, risking a legal challenge to the referendum outcome,” he said. 

Saliba added that, after these elections, discussions should start on giving youths the right to contest local council elections, vote and run for the general elections and also be able to vote in future referenda.

“FZL believes that this should happen gradually and these local elections should serve as a testing ground to see 16- and 18-year-olds taking part in this democratic test.”