Federal elections: Paus calls for the voting age to be lowered

To date, the age of 18 has been the prerequisite for being able to vote in federal elections. After the SPD, the Green Family Minister Paus is now pushing for the voting age to be lowered to 16.

In the traffic light coalition there is a new initiative to lower the minimum age for participation in federal elections from 18 to 16 years. After the President of the Bundestag Bärbel Bas (SPD), the Federal Family Minister Lisa Paus from the Greens has now also spoken out in favor of a corresponding change in the law. She told the Funke media group that by lowering the voting age in the federal election, the “interests and needs of the younger generation are fundamentally taken into account and taken into account in political decisions right from the start”.

Paus also referred to the decision in November to lower the voting age for the European elections. “The voting age of 16 in the European elections is an important signal, but we shouldn’t stop there.” Young people are also allowed to go to the polls in some state and local elections – even in federal states with CDU leadership. At the federal level, however, the Union has so far vehemently rejected the right to vote for younger people – although a recent interim report by the Electoral Law Commission came to the conclusion that there were no constitutional objections to lowering the voting age.

Demand already in the coalition agreement

The federal government, made up of the SPD, Greens and FDP, is demanding that young people from the age of 16 be allowed to vote in the future. The traffic light coalition agreement already says: “We will lower the active voting age for elections to the European Parliament to 16. We want to change the Basic Law in order to lower the active voting age for elections to the German Bundestag to 16.”

Paus justified her current initiative with the current crises and the consequences for young people. The corona pandemic and the Ukraine war have left their mark on children and young people. She has the impression that society is “not really interested in the situation of young people,” said the Federal Minister for Family Affairs. “That’s why I urgently want to give young people a better voice.”

Constitutional amendment needed

So far, however, it is rather questionable whether the push to lower the voting age can be successful: the Basic Law would have to be changed to change the minimum age for active voting rights in federal elections. For the corresponding two-thirds majority, the traffic light coalition would depend on the support of the Union.

But the CDU and CSU as well as the AfD reject the project. The Union faction’s legal adviser, Ansgar Heveling, pointed out in November that the standard voting age in most other EU countries is 18. It is only lower in Malta, Austria and Greece.