The government is looking beyond its proposal to allow 16 year olds to vote in the local council elections. It will be analysing the result of this first initiative to see whether to allow 16 year olds to participate in all the other elections and referenda held in Malta, the prime minister said today.

“The ball is in their court and it all depends on their response to this initiative,” Dr Muscat told the Vote 16 Monitoring Committee, set up to coordinate the amendment to the law which will lower the voting age threshold.

The minimum voting age is currently 18 years but the government has promised that this will be lowered to 16 years for local council elections.

Dr Muscat said that the government was interested in extending this proposal to all elections, including general elections, those for MEPs and any referenda which may take place. He said that the government would also be analysing the possibility to allow 16 year olds to even run as candidates for these elections.

Michael Cohen, coordinator of the Vote 16 Committee, said that there appeared to be overall consensus on the initial proposal.

He said that the amendment to the law would be made on November 20th – the founding date of Maltese local councils.

The provisions will enter into force from the 2015 local council elections.