Voting rights for 16-year-olds? Join the discussion on ‘dialogue’!
It’s not a new question, but one that comes up again and again: should 16-year-olds in Switzerland have the right to vote and stand for election? This week, after years of debate, the House of Representatives decided against lowering the voting age at national level.
The issue has been discussed for years and has been rejected time and again – not only at the national, but also at the cantonal level. The list of failed attempts is long, most recently in Bern and Zurich in 2022; some initiatives elsewhere are yet to be dealt with. Only in one case was the idea accepted: In 2007, the cantonal assembly of Glarus voted in favour of lowering the age from 18 to 16.
The right to vote for minors is also a topic beyond Switzerland’s borders. Among European countries, Austria and Malta have already granted 16-year-olds the right to vote. Worldwide, this is also the case in Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Cuba.
Heated discussion in Riehen
Riehen in canton Basel City is one of the largest municipalities in northwestern Switzerland. With 20,000 residents, it is bigger than better-known towns like Solothurn or Aarau. And on Sunday, March 3, Riehen’s electorate will decide on lowering the voting age.
Noé Pollheimer from the left-wing Social Democratics, who submitted the motion, believes that a “yes” result would send out a signal beyond the municipality and the region. The right-wing Swiss People’s Party launched a referendum against the idea, which is why a vote is happening in the first place. The debate between supporters and opponents could become quite heated.
Join the discussion!
What’s your opinion? Should 16-year-olds have the right to vote and stand for election? Join the debate on “dialogueExternal link”, a platform developed by the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), SWI swissinfo.ch’s parent company. All contributions are moderated and translated into the four Swiss national languages and English.
Selective democracy
Since the creation of the modern Swiss federal state in 1848, the number of people who have become eligible to vote has risen steadily over time.
However, the past 175 years are also a story of exclusion, in which those without access to the ballot box were more numerous than those with the right to vote.
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Switzerland’s exclusive democracy
What regions with voting age 16 show us
Looking at the examples of Glarus or Austria, where 16-year-olds are already allowed to cast ballots, their profile as voters does not seem to differ much from the rest of the population.
Last big change 33 years ago
On March 3, 1991, the last major change on rights at the national level in Switzerland took place: a large majority of citizens and cantons came out in favour of lowering the voting age from 20 to 18, welcoming 160,000 young people into political life.
Find out where you stand on this issue and compare your answers with people living in Switzerland and the Swiss Abroad.
What is ‘dialogue’?
Adapted from Italian by Claire Micallef/dos
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