The youth wings of the two main political parties have both reported a surge in new membership.
According to the presidents of the Labour Party’s Forum Żgħażagħ Laburisti (FŻL) and the Nationalist Party’s Moviment Żgħażagħ Partit Nazzjonalista (MŻPN), the recent amendment to the law lowering the voting age to 16 has prompted an increase in interest from young people looking to join up.
The president of FŻL, Naomi Cachia, said that throughout the debate on voting age, young people had been “attracted naturally”, and the Labour Party’s youth arm had already seen a “wide intake” of 16- and 17-year-old members.
MŻPN president Joseph Grech reports a similar phenomenon, saying young people are eager to join as a result of the efforts to attract youths undertaken by both his group and by the PN’s local committees.
Dr Cachia said the FŻL had adapted its internal structures to ensure the younger cohort of members “feels welcome and has a role to play”. A campaign to this effect had been launched targeting the younger members.
Meanwhile, Dr Grech described the current moment as “an exciting time to be involved in youth politics”.
He spoke of a young, fresh and energetic team dedicated to engaging specifically with young voters, adding that the group would soon be launching a number of initiatives to encourage participation.
An exciting time to be involved in youth politics
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The Labour Party did not intend to target youths “with gimmicks”, Dr Cachia said.
“I’ve read comments on social media, in reaction to our campaign launch, that we were out to brainwash children. This could not be farther from the truth. We will not be chasing these new voters to join us but we want to lead by example and demonstrate how enriching and exciting it is to be involved in politics.”
Read: Vote 16 - the first of many youth reforms
Over at the MŻPN, this issue has been discussed internally “for quite a long time”, Dr Grech said, dismissing the fears.
“In the past few months I have met a number of young people in the new voting age group and it is incredible how much I’ve learnt. Their understanding of our politics and our political system is truly fascinating. Many were capable of identifying harsh truths which, as political parties, we sometimes forget to think about,” he said.
Asked about the possibility of working with schools, both said they would not exclude helping them provide students with information for a better understanding of the value of their vote. But their main aim would be to encourage participation.
“Let’s take this opportunity to move away from traditional partisan politics and do our utmost to teach them the benefits of choosing their preferred party based on a set of principles, on making an informed choice and on doing so as maturely as possible,” Dr Grech said.
‘Susceptible to peer and family pressure’
Younger voters risk being more susceptible to peer and family pressure through social media than adults, the head of the university’s Communications Department Ġorġ Mallia says.
During the election campaign last year, the social media expert expressed concern that heavy use of it by politicians could prove counterproductive in the long run.
As for the younger generation, while they were more “tech savvy”, they might not necessarily be “media savvy”.
“The younger the generations, the more immersed they are in social media, but their tech savvy might not stretch to media savvy, and they may be even more affected by the ‘echo chamber’ effect that most social media induce.
“This basically reinforces the influences that might already be there through peer and family pressure, which younger people are more likely to be susceptible to,” Dr Mallia explained.
While the older generation might have sworn off social media during the last campaign, affected by overkill, Dr Mallia said he believed this was not an issue with younger generations, who are “persistently on social media”.