Greek parliament votes to lower voting age to 17

Jul 22, 2016News

acropolis

View of the Acropolis, in Athens.

Greek lawmakers voted July 21 to lower the voting age to 17  from 18 and eventually eliminate a 50-seat bonus for the winning party.

The drop in voting age will take effect in the next election,  but the seat bonus will end   two elections from now.

Lowering the voting age might have two possible effects:  mostly increasing the total votes for the left (which now controls the parliament) and/or increasing votes for populist parties of the right and the left. Of course, young people vote at much lower rates than do older people.

To read an Agence France-Presse article on this, please hit this link.