New Zealand court rules 16-year-olds should be allowed to vote

New Zealand’s Supreme Court ruled on Monday that not allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to vote amounted to age discrimination

Lawmakers will now decide if the voting age should be lowered from 18. But 75 per cent of them need to agree for such a change to take effect

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A voter casts their ballot in Auckland in 2014. New Zealand’s Supreme Court has found in favour of a lobby group seeking to lower the country’s voting age from 18 to 16. Photo: New Zealand Herald via AP

Published: 3:03pm, 21 Nov 2022

New Zealand lawmakers will take a vote on whether to lower the national voting age from 18 to 16, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday.

Her announcement came hours after the country’s Supreme Court ruled that not allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to vote amounted to age discrimination.

But while Ardern said she personally favours lowering the age, such a change would require a 75 per cent supermajority of lawmakers to agree. And even proponents acknowledge they don’t currently have the numbers.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said she’s in favour of lowering the voting age. Photo: New Zealand Herald

A number of countries are debating whether to lower their voting age. Some that allow people to vote at 16 include Austria, Malta, Brazil, Cuba and Ecuador.

Sanat Singh, co-director of New Zealand’s Make It 16 campaign, said he was absolutely thrilled with the court’s decision.

“It’s a huge day,” he said. “This is historic not only for our campaign, but for the country.”

Singh, 18, said existential issues like climate change — as well as issues like pandemic recovery and the state of democracy — will most affect young people.

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