Why I Don’t Support Lowering the Voting Age

The proposal to lower Hungary’s voting age to 16 has been raised, with supporters arguing that young people should have a greater say in decisions affecting them. I don’t support lowering the voting age. The majority of students aren’t even familiar with basic political issues and concepts at 18. They generally don’t know how many parliamentary parties or MPs there are. They don’t know who makes up the government and can name perhaps 2–3 ministers at most. Many have no idea who the highest-ranking constitutional office-holder is; 9 out of 10 would probably name the prime minister (who is actually third in the line of succession!). Many students aren’t clear about the difference between European Parliament elections and parliamentary elections. They don’t read the news or follow current affairs. Whatever reaches them through social media is often the only thing they’ve even heard about. They don’t see the connections between political issues, and many don’t even know who their mayor…