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Youth Participation in Elections

There is not yet a uniform definition of Youth across regions. According to the
United Nations (UN) anyone between the ages of 15 and 24 years is categorised a
‘youth’. The African Union (AU) on the other hand defines youth as individual aged
between 15 to 35 years.

Research across the globe is revealing an interesting phenomenon, that the world is
experiencing an unprecedented increase in the youth population1, making them the
largest interest group in society. In Sub-Saharan Africa almost 62% of the population
is under the age of 25. Here in South Africa the 2011 population census has
revealed that out of a total population of 51 770 560, 25 478 8108 which makes up
49.21 are under 24 years old, a great number of these are what we have come to
call the post-apartheid Born Free generation. What these numbers reveal is the fact
that the youth can no longer be ignored when it comes to socio, economic,
governance and democratisation issues.

Although Africa’s large youth population is seen by many as a potential strength of

the continent, a 2011 African Union Report on Youth has revealed that youth in
Africa remain very marginal at the political process. The report noted that “African
youth have been only marginally involved in civic participation, electoral participation
and political voice”. This can be partly because of lack of quota system in the political
process and party systems for youth in many African countries. Accordingly, youth
associations and councils in the political process exist on the fringes as youth wings
of political parties.2

In South Africa the Youth have always been at the forefront of political change.
During the struggle against apartheid the youth became foot soldiers of the liberation
movements and were allowed to participate in many aspects of the struggle for
political freedom. I do not need to remind you of the role the youth of 1976 played in

1
See http://www.unfpa.org/pds/trends.htm
2
State of the African Youth Report, Addis Ababa: The African Union
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the struggle against apartheid in this country. Their firm determination to fight
injustices of apartheid provided a foundation for the transformation of our country.

In recent times, it seems like the youth are lagging behind and the spirit of 1976 has
withered. We see our young people being frustrated and particularly vulnerable to
issues such as unemployment, lack of education and HIV/AIDS.

The Electoral Commission consider the inclusion of and participation of the youth in
democratic activities - in particular elections, to be crucial, to this end. Over the
years the Commission has relentlessly sought, developed and implemented
progressive programmes aimed at increasing youth inclusion and participation in
electoral processes with a view to ensure that they don’t remain in the fringes – that
they are registered on the national voters roll and that they vote.

In 2007 the Commission in partnership with the Department of Education organised

a first of a kind workshop of SRCs from all Institutions of Higher Learning in South
Africa under the theme “Enhancing Electoral Democracy in Higher Education”. This
workshop was aimed at providing a platform to deliberate on issues of inclusion,
capacity and participation of the youth in our democracy. From this platform the
Commission reached a principle agreement with the Department of Education on the
establishment of a partnership to support the management of SRC elections and to
improve student governance in general.

Furthermore prior to the 2009 National and Provincial Elections, the Commission
organised a National Youth Dialogue on Electoral Democracy to raise awareness
among the youth about the importance of participating in electoral processes, and to
provide a forum for the youth to voice their concerns and opinions, while affording
them an opportunity to share their predicaments and experiences in the country.

Some of the issues that were raised by the youth in the dialogue included:
 changing voting registration dates that conflicted with school schedules,
 utilising unemployed youth or recent graduates as electoral officers instead of
giving the positions to those that were already employed,
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 The youth called for more accountability of political parties and even
suggested changing the voting age to 16.

This initiative found that the Commission and other institutions needed to address
the youth on civic and voting engagements and that in doing so entertainment
methods that would appeal to young people should be explored and adopted.

Acting on the recommendations of these engagements, the Commission introduced

a website called ‘X for Democracy’, and utilised young celebrities in campaigns for
voter education.

The Commission also launched the youth ambassadors programme to mobilise

young people to participate in elections. The results for all these initiatives were
positive, as the percentage of youth registration on the National Voters Roll for the
2009 National and Provincial Elections increased from 26.08% in the 2004 elections
to 27.11 %. The percentage of youth who voted for that election was at 27.18%. In
general roughly 2.5 million more South Africans voted in the 2009 election.

The recent events in North Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere in the world have
seen the youth at the forefront of the uprisings that led to regime change. Such
events reaffirmed the role of the youth in a democracy and the importance of
embracing young people in all our processes. These events have further re-opened
the discourse about democracy, democratization and the role of youth in governance
in the developing World.

Without overemphasizing the commitment of the Commission to issues of inclusion

and participation of the youth in electoral democracy I should mention that we
continue to seek innovative and relevant ways to transform the role of the youth from
that of protest to participation, and we hope that through this seminar and the many
more that we will hold throughout our provinces with the youth, we will come up with
concrete strategies to strengthen this goal.

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Some statistics to note

Youth: % Registration Youth: % Participation

Election Age 18-29 Age 30+ Total Election Age 18-29 Age 30+ Total

NPE1999 32.11% 67.89% 100.00% NPE2009 27.18% 72.82% 100.00%

LGE2000 29.02% 70.98% 100.00% LGE2011 22.00% 78.00% 100.00%

NPE2004 28.43% 71.57% 100.00%

LGE2006 26.08% 73.92% 100.00%

NPE2009 27.11% 72.89% 100.00%

LGE2011 25.39% 74.61% 100.00%