The Forum Żgħażagħ Laburisti has welcomed Labour leader Joseph Muscat’s proposal for the voting age for local elections to be lowered to 16 years, saying it would create the right balance between the rights and responsibilities of young people.

The Labour Party, it pointed out, was also the party which had spearheaded the lowering of the voting age from 21 to 18.

The forum said 16-year-olds were already taking important decisions particularly relating to education. This included the choice of subjects and the educational institutions they were to attend.

Young people, it said, could come up with fresh and innovative ideas for their localities.

There, therefore, should be an an open debate on the idea expressed by the Labour leader. Those who were opposing it point blank were only telling young people they did not have anything to offer society.

The MZPN yesterday also backed the proposal, saying it publicly made a similar proposal some time ago.

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