A German teachers’ union has warned against lowering the voting age to 16 for national elections, shortly after polling data showed that the youth in the country are shifting to the Right.
Senior officials within the German Teachers’ Association claimed many teenagers are not yet mature enough to vote, despite Germany having opted in 2022 to lower the voting age to 16 for the upcoming European Parliament elections.
“Taking responsibility for the bigger picture beyond one’s own person is something that has to mature,” association president Stefan Düll told the country’s media.
“A large proportion of them are not at all interested in politics with its many facets.”
The statement from the association has raised eyebrows amongst populists, with it coming shortly after polling found that the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) was the most popular party among those aged between 14 and 29 years old.
Speaking to Brussels Signal, AfD MP Jan Wenzel Schmidt noted that there now seemed to be a move away from lowering the voting age in Germany in the wake of this polling being released.
“It’s, of course, no coincidence that parts of the political establishment are now growing sceptical about lowering the voting age to 16. After all, the results of a newly released study have put the AfD in first place among first-time voters by a large margin,” he said.
“Originally, the right to vote from the age of 16 was a matter close to the hearts of mostly left-wing parties.
“But now that young people are increasingly emancipating themselves from the left-green worldview of their teachers who are stuck in the 1960s or who believed in modern pseudo-pedagogy, the voting age should suddenly be raised again.
“Preferably to those over 70, because that’s where the voters who listen to the established mainstream media are to be found,” he quipped.
An Alternative for Germany (AfD) candidate has been injured in a second stabbing in Mannheim. https://t.co/eYfeN5nQ5G
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) June 5, 2024
