The initiators of the referendum on voting for people aged 16 and over in Bavaria say they have collected enough signatures for approval. As the spokesman for the “Vote16” initiative, Franz Wacker, told the SZ, significantly more than the 25,000 signatures required for verification by the Interior Ministry were obtained. He did not give an exact number. The initiative began its campaign for a change to the Bavarian constitution in May. She wants to lower the active voting age from 18 to 16 years. “Vote16” is supported by 50 associations and parties, including the Greens, SPD and FDP.
Before the referendum is submitted to the Ministry of the Interior for review, the initiative now wants to approach the CSU and Free Voters. “We want to throw the ball into the coalition negotiations,” says Wacker. It is primarily the task of the future state government to better integrate young people into democracy. “From a scientific point of view, there is nothing to speak against it. There are only five federal states in which voting from the age of 16 does not apply, at least at the local level,” says Wacker, who is also state chairman of the Catholic rural youth movement. In addition, 16 and 17 year olds could also take part in next year’s European elections nationwide for the first time. “The room for counterarguments is very, very small.”
So far, attempts to vote for people aged 16 and over in the state parliament have failed, mainly due to resistance from the CSU. The party would like to stick to the existing voting age of 18. “We are concerned with consistency. We have a legal system that attaches various rights and obligations to the age of 18,” the CSU’s parliamentary director, Tobias Reiß, emphasized in an SZ interview shortly before the election. He saw the issue as “not on the agenda” during coalition negotiations.
The Free Voters are different: before the election, they spoke out in favor of lowering the voting age – first at the local level, then at the state level. The CSU will have to “jump over its shadow” at the latest during the coalition negotiations, said state parliament vice-president Alexander Hold before the state elections. The two parties have been negotiating the goals of their new government coalition since Friday. Is there also talk about voting for people aged 16 and over? “We have agreed that we will not provide any information about the content or status of the coalition negotiations until the coalition negotiations have been concluded,” Hold said in response to an SZ request.
Supporters of the referendum are concerned that the AfD’s good performance among young voter groups and in the U-18 election of the Bavarian Youth Ring (BJR) may have frightened some supporters of the project. “That would be exactly the wrong conclusion,” says Philipp Seitz, President of the BJR. You have to show young people now at the latest that their concerns are taken seriously. The BJR is the sponsor behind the referendum.
The 16 and 17 year olds are condemned to watch the referendum
The initiators of “Vote16” see the current coalition negotiations as a good opportunity to place their project in the political arena. “We hope that the parties will take a step in the right direction,” says Franz Wacker. Because the organizers are also aware of how difficult it will be to get the election from 16 through through popular legislation.
Once the referendum has been approved by the Interior Ministry, they would have to get around 940,000 eligible voters to sign in town halls, citizens’ offices and other offices within 14 days. Only when a total of ten percent of those entitled to vote had signed would the referendum come before the state parliament. Because it is a constitutional amendment, the law would have to be voted on again in the form of a referendum – even after approval by the state parliament majority. So there are a lot of hurdles.
The biggest obstacle: Those directly affected would be condemned to watch all of this. 16 and 17 year olds are not allowed to sign for a referendum. You would have to hope that enough adults consider the topic important. An “absurdity,” says “Vote16” spokesman Wacker. Strictly speaking, the election from 16 is “the most difficult topic for a referendum.”