The highest court in New Zealand, on Monday, ruled that the Country’s current voting age of 18 years is discriminatory, forcing parliament to discuss whether it should be lowered.
The case, which had been going through the courts since 2020, was filed by an advocacy group, ‘Make It 16,’ which wanted the age lowered to include 16 and 17-year-olds.
The group argued that young people should be able to vote on matters affecting them, such as climate change.
The Supreme Court found that the current voting age of 18 is inconsistent with the country’s Bill of Rights, which gave people a right to be free from age discrimination when they had reached 16.
The decision triggered a process in which the issue must come before parliament for discussion and be reviewed by a parliamentary select committee. But it does not force parliament to change the voting age.
The Make It 16 co-director, Caeden Tipler, who spoke with newsmen said; “This is history, the government and parliament cannot ignore such a clear legal and moral message. They must let us vote.’’
The 17-year-old from Auckland said they had felt frustrated at not being able to vote on issues that mattered to them in the last election in 2020.
''We became incredibly frustrated. We felt like we knew just as much as the adults around us... We are more than capable of voting."
New Zealand, Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, said the government will draft legislation to reduce the age to 16, which could then be put to a vote in parliament.
She said; “I personally support a decrease in the voting age but it is not a matter simply for me or even the government, any change in electoral law of this nature requires 75 per cent of parliamentarian support.’’
Political parties had mixed views on the subject. The Green Party wanted immediate action to lower the voting age to 16, but the largest opposition party, the National Party, did not support the shift.
The National Party leader, Christopher Luxon said; “Obviously, we’ve got to draw a line somewhere.’’
“We’re comfortable with the line being 18. Lots of different countries have different places where the line’s drawn and from our point of view, 18 is just fine.’’