Schwerin/Berlin (dpa/mv) – Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, as the sixth federal state, wants to lower the lower age limit for state elections from 18 to 16 years. The nationwide association Mehr Demokratie welcomed the reform as the right and necessary step before the final consultation on the amendment to the law and the final vote planned for Wednesday in the state parliament. Such an adjustment must now also follow at the federal level.
“There is no longer any reason to deny 16- and 17-year-olds the right to vote. Young people want and should have a say in the development of their country,” said board spokesman Ralf-Uwe Beck in a statement distributed on Tuesday. Unlike in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where the law can be changed with a simple majority, changing the federal electoral law requires a two-thirds majority in the Bundestag and Bundesrat.
After years of discussions, the red-red state government in Schwerin, which has been in power for a year, introduced the change in the law, which has also met with support from parts of the opposition. “The CDU has always blocked the lowering of the voting age. But young people want more of a say. They’re finally getting it,” said Left Party leader Jeannine Rösler. But in addition to the reduced voting age, the establishment of further youth parliaments at the municipal level is important in order to give the interests of the younger generation a better hearing.
Voting at 16 in state elections has so far been possible in five federal states. After Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein, Baden-Württemberg lowered the voting age in April and there are also plans to do so in North Rhine-Westphalia, Berlin and Lower Saxony. The next state elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania will take place in autumn 2026. For local elections in the northeast – as in ten other federal states – the minimum voting age has long been 16 years. However, you can only be elected in local, state and federal elections at the age of 18, when you have reached the legal age of majority.
