“In the next European elections we will vote according to the instructions that our two will give us children who are still minors and therefore excluded from the right to vote”. AND the provocation launched by A couple of university professors on the eve of the European elections.
A symbolic gesture which aims to raise awareness of the lack of attention paid to young people and the importance of their opinion also in politics.
Matteo Rizzolli, associate professor of economic policy at Lumsa University, and Lucia Marchegiani, associate professor of business organization at Roma Tre University, have decided to involve their children who are still minors for the next vote: Leonardo, 16 years old and Ginevra, 13.
In other countries, young people aged 16 can already express their preference, in Italy minors do not have the right to vote.
“Excluding young people means discriminating against them. They pay for adults' choices, they have no voice. We strongly believe in the need to significantly lower the voting age. If minors could vote, they should be heard», says the couple of parents.
“We we decided to give our children our right to vote. We will be accompanied to the polling station and will vote according to their instructions.”
“Since the proposal was made and accepted as a family – explain Rizzolli and Marchegiani – at home we talk a lot more about politics with our children and also with their friends.” Leonardo also asked his father to go together to listen to a meeting of candidates.
The two researchers are convinced that lowering the voting age to represent the political interests of young people is a necessity in a democratic country. “The argument that minors do not have the cognitive abilities and sense of responsibility to vote has already been adopted in the past to exclude women and the poor from the right to vote,” the couple emphasizes.
And that's not all. According to Rizzolli and Marchegiani, “the right to vote should also be promoted for infants and children by seriously considering the idea of trustee votethat parents could exercise on behalf of their children until they are able to express it independently.”
