Zug,29.05.2015

More young people to be encouraged to vote

As a result of the low participation by young people in elections and referenda, CVP cantonal parliamentarian Laura Dittli proposed a motion to do something about it and this was duly accepted by 43 votes to 25 at a parliamentary session on Thursday morning.
 
At 24, Dittli herself (second photograph) is the youngest member to sit in the cantonal parliament and she felt it was important that more young people took an interest in political matters. Hence she felt it was only right to give them greater support and cited the easyvote.ch website through which young people can find further information about issues of the day and how to vote.
 
This website is actually a project set up by the umbrella organisation of Swiss cantonal parliaments and provides politically-neutral information in a straightforward and unstuffy way appropriate to this age group about forthcoming elections in the hope more of them will take the trouble to vote. It is also linked up with Twitter and Facebook.
 
Dittli also thought the individual municipalities should play a greater role in this area, too. While authorities usually put up signs saying "Voting taking place today" to remind people, Dittli thought this alone was now rather out-dated and felt more could be done. "We must move with the times," she said.
 
For their parts, both the FDP  and SVP parties were against the motion. While SVP cantonal parliamentarian Jürg Messmer said the motion was proposed with good intentions, he felt it was really up to parents to inculcate a sense of political responsibility in their offspring. Furthermore, one should be able expect a certain level of personal responsibility among the 18-25-year-old target group.