It has been reported that by March 2018, the government will be presenting the White Paper on Vote 16. While attending a student debate at the Giovanni Curmi Higher Secondary at Naxxar, lately, the Prime Minister confirmed that the vote for 16-year-olds is no longer an issue of whether it will happen or not, but how it will be implemented. “You will be making history,” he told the students.

So, it seems, the decision has already been taken. I, for one, have long been maintaining that 16-year-olds are not yet ready to vote, especially, in general elections, when matters are more varied and complex. This through no fault of theirs but for the simple reason that they are not yet intellectually mature and they haven’t yet got first-hand experience of life in general to be able to help them make an informed decision.

Many of those promoting the idea reason that by lowering the voting age, teenagers would be encouraged to become civic-minded at an early age and thus establish an interest in the political system. I am all for inculcating in our youth an interest in politics and civics in general. But I can’t see how the only way of achieving this is by allowing 16-year-olds to vote.

Because partisan politics has infiltrated and influenced our way of seeing things, students at school, of whatever age and at whatever stage, aren’t able to discuss, objectively, any topic related to politics. And, I imagine, teachers wouldn’t dare raise such topics.

We want our youth to be better than us. We don’t want our 16-year-olds to be tied down to a political party so early in their life

Before giving our 16-year-olds the right to vote, wouldn’t it be better, first, to create a healthy political environment and educate our youth in thinking skills and civics? The National Council for Youth (KNZ), which is in favour of 16-year-olds having the right to vote, insists that this right should come together with compulsory civic education. Let us first educate our youth in all those skills and knowledge needed to achieve a wider perspective of all that is going on around them, and only then allow them to participate in elections.

Andrew Mycock, Reader in Politics at the University of Huddersfield, when asked whether it was time for the UK to lower the voting age to 16, said: “Lowering the voting age of enfranchisement to 16 without discussing the wide range of implications could prove a dangerous, rather than radical step.”

Studying the implications involved if 16-year-olds are given the right to vote should be our starting point. Examining our political climate, for example, would be surely useful. We have to admit, as Revel Barker had commented in the Times of Malta (October 21) that “In Malta, the majority of people don’t have opinions, they have parties”.

This statement describes, in a nutshell, our political environment. If the majority of us adults are not able to form an objective opinion about anything, because we wear either red of blue blinkers, how are we going to expect our 16-year-olds to make an informed opinion on policies dealing with the running of our country?

Such a biased political environment would not help inculcate in 16-year-olds a sense of civic responsibility. On the contrary, they would, at such a young age, be already engrossed in partisan politics. We want our youth to be better than us. We don’t want our 16-year-olds to be tied down to a political party so early in their life. We want them to learn to think for themselves and form an objective, unbiased opinion. Even at 18, our youth are influenced, either by their parents or peers, imagine at the age of 16!

No, we shall not be doing our youth a favour or justice by allowing them to vote at 16 in general elections. On the contrary, politicians shall be using them for their own interests.

One more implication, and this affects us all, is that we would be giving our 16-year-olds the right to decide on matters concerning everyone and everything, without first endowing them with the right skills and experience to be able to make an informed decision. This would be both to their own detriment and to the nation as a whole.

One should ask, at this stage, what is the real motive behind our politicians wanting 16-year-olds to vote? What is their hidden agenda? Do they simply want to make history? Do they, sincerely, want to enhance and empower our youth or do they want to influence and manipulate young minds that are still fragile and weak?

We must debate this issue with an open mind and in the sole interest of our youth and the good of our society at large. Only then we would come out with practical and beneficial solutions for one and all.

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