The League of Young Voters gears up for a busy 2015

A busy year is planned for the League of Young Voters (LYV), as efforts are made to build upon (and learn from) the progress made in 2014, and to tackle the worrying trend of increasing youth abstention in elections across Europe.

Established by the European Youth Forum, the League of Young Voters is a politically neutral initiative that aims to amplify young people’s concerns and expectations in the run-up to elections. Its purpose is to address decreasing electoral participation of young people, and it works at both the national and European level to achieve this. It’s a pan-European movement designed by young people, for young people, with a big task on its hands.

In last year’s European Parliament elections, youth turnout (18-24 years old) fell to just 28% – down from 29% in 2009 and 33% in 2004. Though this drop was less severe than in previous years, the absolute level of youth abstention (72%) is still cause for major concern. The LYV worked throughout the year to encourage increased participation, organising the first ever European Presidential Debate (with Jean-Claude Juncker and the other candidates for the European Commission Presidency) and launching fully as a pan-European alliance of organisations with a common objective: increased youth electoral turnout.

There are big lessons to be learned from the last 12 months, particularly with regard to the broader context in which youth turnout is decreasing: one of widespread distrust towards political institutions, parties, and often politics as a whole. In addition, the participation gap between young people and older age groups disintegrates when you examine less conventional forms of participation, such as demonstrations, debates, strikes and cause-orientated political action. As such, youth engagement with politics continues to transform, with structured and formal systems giving way somewhat to informal engagement and social movements.

These developments will inform the LYV’s work for 2015, including up-to-date research on young people’s relationships with democracy and politics; providing young people with the information, tools and skills needed to better participate in decision-making structures; and developing and improving mechanisms for young people to hold political representatives to account. In addition, the LYV and its broader network will continue to provide support for the European Youth Forum’s objectives on youth participation, such as promoting discussions about lowering the voting age to 16 and introduction of citizenship education in curricula across Europe.

For more information on the Youth Forum & LYV’s work on youth participation, see our study, ‘Addressing Youth Absenteeism in European Elections’.