Saxony's Children's and Youth Council calls for the voting age to be lowered to 16

The Saxony Children and Youth Council is calling for the voting age for state and local elections to be lowered to 16. Young people are already committed to society in many ways, for example in youth associations or in voluntary work, according to a statement from the KJRS on Tuesday. It is incomprehensible that young people in Saxony are still being denied one of the most important basic democratic rights. A postcard campaign is running until mid-August, with which an alliance of several associations and individuals is campaigning for the voting age to be lowered.

Saxony is one of the few federal states in Germany, alongside Bavaria, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, in which 16 and 17-year-olds do not have the right to vote at local or state level. In most other federal states, young people are either only allowed to vote in local elections or in both local and state elections. At the beginning of the year, the Left Party in the Saxon state parliament also pushed for the voting age to be lowered. In Germany, the voting age from the age of 16 only applies to European elections in all federal states.