ADZ – Green Youth had presented the idea to lower the voting age for local council election in its manifesto in 2007. If Labour Leader Joseph Muscat is expressing his support for this measure, he should immediately  propose a private member’s bill in parliament to change the electoral law for local councils.

Andre` Vella, AD spokesperson for Youth and Community Development, said: “if Labour does not want to use youths as a backdrop, now is the time to stop with empty rhetoric and propose concrete changes. The irony is that saying you support lowering the voting age to 16 without doing anything in parliament means using youths as a backdrop. Joseph Muscat should put his words to action and move the appropriate bills in parliament to change the voting age in local council elections. This measure is not even present in Labour’s manifesto, and PN’s silence on the issue is appalling. Youth empowerment should not be a buzzword to be used during speeches, but it should be practised. Lowering the voting age in local council elections is a good start”.

This is just one of the necessary changes to the electoral law in Malta. A political party must not necessarily be in government to change these out-dated laws, being present in parliament is enough to give the Labour party opportunity to present such a bill to lower the voting age in local council elections. AD is proposing a number of changes to the Maltese electoral law, among which there is the proposal to lower the voting age to 16 in local council elections; being elected in parliament would give AD the opportunity to present the necessarily bills to change the law.