Vote, this civic right.

-

Richard BOUHET / AFP

  • Will it soon be possible to vote from the age of 16 in France?

    This is the wish of members of the EDS group (Ecology, democracy and solidarity), supported by youth organizations and part of the left.

  • A bill, unveiled this Thursday, will be debated from September 30 in the National Assembly.

    The right is expected to oppose it, while the presidential majority - LREM and MoDem - have not yet indicated their position.

  • According to the deputies behind the text, this measure would make it possible in particular to fight against abstention among young people.

It is an old debate that deputies are preparing to relaunch this return.

Should citizens be allowed to vote from the age of 16?

Two former walkers, Paula Forteza and Mathieu Orphelin are convinced of this, and are launching an online petition this Thursday, before presenting their bill to the Assembly.

Members of the EDS (Ecology, Democracy, Solidarity) group are supported by elected officials from the left, environmentalists, centrists and youth organizations.

Fight against abstention?

The idea of ​​allowing young French people to vote is not new.

Under François Hollande, the Minister of the Family, Dominique Bertinotti, had indicated that a status of "pre-majority" at 16 was in the drawers, but the project had finally been abandoned.

During the 2017 presidential election, rebellious Jean-Luc Mélenchon included this measure in his program, and Thierry Solère, spokesperson for candidate LR François Fillon, said he was in favor of the right to vote from 16 years old.

More recently, left-wing parliamentarians wanted to amend the executive's constitutional reform project, which has since fallen into oblivion.

By tabling this bill, Mathieu Orphelin hopes to trigger "a good debate in the Assembly".

"This will allow political groups to position themselves and, more generally, to discuss avenues for reconciling youth and the vote".

The 18-25 age group abstains significantly more than the average of voters in France.

"In Austria, studies show that the 16-18 age group votes more than the 18-25 age group," defends the deputy, taking the example of the only country in the European Union that has set the threshold for 16 years. be able to vote.

Youth & abstention


Infogram

A shared assembly

Forty-six years after the law lowering the majority to 18, parliamentarians will therefore again debate young people and ballots.

If the Republicans group is clearly opposed to this measure, the elected LREM (279 deputies) have not yet decided on their possible support for this bill.

Did the Minister of Justice give a clue on Wednesday?

Eric Dupond-Moretti said he was in favor of offering from 16 years the right of petition to the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (Cese).

Under debate at the @AssembleeNat to make the Economic, Social and Environmental Council the chamber of citizen participation.


I would like to open the right to petition from 16 years old in order to give voice to our youth and prepare them for citizenship.https: //t.co/gzeQq8U0Jo

- Eric Dupond-Moretti (@E_DupondM) September 8, 2020

The text will be examined in committee from September 30, before a debate in the hemicycle on October 8.

By then, the EDS group wants to garner support outside the walls of the Palais-Bourbon, with an online petition, already signed by Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Yannick Jadot, among others.

The goal is to reach 100,000 signatures.

Several youth organizations support the text, including the National Lycée Union and the Unef student union.

@Mathieu_Devl from @UNLnational:



“we have an ecological debt which is a heavy mental burden.

The right to vote at 16 can make it possible to answer them »



Sign and share the petition 👉https: //t.co/oT8bQ45LqP


# JeVoteA16ans pic.twitter.com/k4G87lbKKS

- Paula Forteza (@PaulaForteza) September 10, 2020

1.4 million young people involved

"We must trust young people", urges Mathieu Orphelin.

"They are mobilizing in the streets - we saw it during the marches for the climate -, in associations, parties", continues the elected representative of Maine-et-Loire, describing among the detractors of the project an "irrational fear that young people do anything with the right to vote.

"And to add:" At 16, you can start driving, working, paying your taxes… You have to be consistent with these responsibilities and also grant this civic right.

"

Only a dozen countries in the world have set the minimum age for voting at 16.

This bill, if passed, would allow more than a million voters aged 16 to 18 to slip a ballot into the ballot box in future elections, if they do not decide to abstain, like so many older voters.

Politics

À la carte voting, political mistrust ... How generational renewal is changing politics

Politics

"Young people are politicized differently", explains sociologist Anne Muxel

  • National Assembly

  • Youth

  • Vote

  • Youth

  • Abstention

  • Participation