Parliamentary Secretary Jose’ Herrera said today that he was starting the process for the voting age for local council elections to be reduced to 16 from the current 18.

He was speaking during the swearing in of councillors elected in the March 9 elections.

Jose Herrera

He said he hoped the change would be introduced into law by November 20 as the administration’s gift to local councils on the 20th anniversary of their founding.

In his address Dr Herrera urged the councillors to update themselves on the law and to keep contact with the people.

He said that he would be working to ensure that the meetings of all local councils could be streamed on the internet.

He was also having talks to ensure that the councils were responsible for all street lighting in their localities. It was unacceptable, he said, that the councils were currently responsible for lampposts fixed to brackets on walls, while Enemalta was repsonsible for those on poles.

He would also be working to iron out problems in the administration of administrative committees in view of problems which had developed, such as poor coordination, or even piques, with the local councils.