I have repeatedly claimed that young people, even at the tender age of 16 are more than accomplished to contribute to governance. In fact, the way I see it, one very important electoral proposal by the party in government was the one that 16-year-olds should vote in local council elections (Malta Tagħna Lkoll, Manifest Elettorali, 2013, Chapter 19, No. 1, p. 165), a promise shared by all the other parties as well.

I was astounded at the prompt declaration that had been made by Josè Herrera, at the time parliamentary secretary for culture and local government, so early on in the new legislature.

He had announced that, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary since the setting up of the local councils, the government would be proposing the necessary legislative changes to ensure that the voting age will go down from 18 to 16 years (in local council elections). As one can imagine, this pitch was taken on board very well by young people, academics and also practitioners working in the sector.

And so it was. It was a historic milestone and it needs to be documented as such.

The stakeholders immediately engaged in this agenda and embarked on a campaign to stimulate the whole of society to adopt such a proposition because this change would unquestionably affect the wider social landscape.

The Vote 16 campaign was an absolutely brilliant idea.

I was asked to sit on the Vote 16 monitoring committee probably because of my enthusiasm for this initiative and because I had spoken about it in every possible context prior to the 2013 election.

The debate that ensued and the projects that followed were meaningful and of paramount significance whereby all the associates – political, social and civic – were sitting around a table arguing on how best to take this forward, possibly for the first time ever accomplishing a task as one.

Luminous. A dream. The political parties were in sync. The youth federations and main organisations representing them were one as were agencies, service providers, researchers and policymakers.

It was brilliant.

The challenge we had was primarily on how to persuade the ‘people out there’ to see the light, to see the positives that young people are involved not only as a form of tokenism during political gatherings and in photo shoots when the leaders come to town but also that they are riveted in the actual implementation.

This political scheme demonstrated a willingness to ensure that young people are treated not as ‘second class’ or an ‘incomplete populace’ but rather as ‘full’ citizens with an equal say on the way they would like to see their communities develop.

Naturally, for this initiative to be successful we need to look at what issues young people are interested in, draw them towards politics away from a ‘partisan myopic view’ and zoom in on ‘issues’ that help them subscribe namely, their life experiences, vitality and enthusiasm.

‘Politics’ is a central issue in all our lives and, more so, in the lives of young people.

Voting at 16 is a major paradigm shift that has to be made in this regard and that places young people at the very centre of this discussion.

Young people deserve to participate at all levels of governance

In a country where we inhale politics with every breath we take it can either be perceived as an itchy incident or else it can become an occasion for young people to be dynamically engaged.

At the end of the day, our target is to craft all the possible prospects for young people that will lead to ‘them’ being in control of their communities.

On this issue I will not be drawn in partisan, petty wiles because this is what keeps messing progress in this country, that it has to be either blue or to red.

How outlandish.

On this one I’m with young people.

Young people deserve to participate at all levels of governance.

Young people have so much to give to this country.

Young people are the ones that can lead this country forward. They are the ones that can bring a breath of fresh air in this suffocating political panorama, which, unfortunately, continues to be based on vile personalised attacks.

For more than one understandable reason, both parties that have been responsible to lead the country these last 30 years have been held up on this one.

Young people have so much to offer to their communities and we need to keep finding ways how to facilitate this.

If political parties want to be gracious, they need to sit back, listen and think how to do the right thing together, in synch, and ride above the public perception that they are just about gaining brownie ‘votes’.

This issue needs to be sorted out: vote at 16 in local council elections followed by all other voting processes thereof ASAP.

Andrew Azzopardi is senior lecturer at the University’s Department of Youth and Community Studies.