[WATCH] What Junior College and MCAST students think about voting at 16

MaltaToday spoke to students at the Junior College and MCAST to gauge what they thought of Vote16

Discussions to lower the voting age for general elections and European Parliament elections in Malta started in Parliament on Monday.

‘Vote16’, the bill proposing the constitutional amendments for a lower voting age, is expected to go through, with all political parties agreeing that 16 and 17-year-olds should have the right to vote.

MaltaToday asked students outside the Junior College and the main MCAST campus what they thought of being given the chance to vote before they reached 18.

Interestingly, some students we spoke to showed some concern on whether 16-year-olds were mature enough to vote wisely.

“I don’t think it’s a very good idea,” a student said, “At 16 one doesn’t really know much about politics. At 18 people might be more affected by what goes on in politics, especially since there is a greater chance they are working and paying taxes.”

“I’m not sure all 16-year-olds are interested in politics,” another told us, “Some young people might not be mature enough and might only take into consideration things which affect them personally, when it comes to voting. I think the voting age should stay at 18 - at the age a person has a greater likelihood of making a mature and informed decision.”

A more politically oriented student offered an opposing view, saying that she followed politics and was interested in political matters.

“I agree with the lowering of the voting age - at 16 you form an important part of society. I would have liked to have been able to vote in the 2017 election, because I was able to understand what was going on, and it would have been good if I could have voted for the person I thought would make the best Prime Minister,” she said.

A somewhat middle-of-the-road view was expressed by another student, who said that while he didn’t think giving 16-year-olds the right to vote was necessarily a bad idea, maturity could possibly be an issue.

“Some 16-year-olds are mature, others aren’t. This will have a bearing on the way they vote,” he maintained.

A number of students we tried to speak to told us they preferred not to comment, since they had not been following, and were not interested in, the current voting age developments.