FCOM111 - Government, Law and Business Assignment

Surname Youth and Political Participation in New Zealand
Youth and Political Participation in New Zealand
Student’s name
Course
University
Date
1

Surname Youth and Political Participation in New Zealand
Youth and Political Participation in New Zealand
Introduction
Many democracies around the world are experiencing low participation of youth in
the voting process. Importantly, elections of leaders define the foundation of democracies
because citizens get the opportunity to choose their leaders. The elected leaders have to
address the expectations of their voters (Wood 2013). However, the failure of certain groups
to engage in the electoral process is of a great policy concern. Although New Zealand’s
overall voter turnout stands at 79 percent, the turnout among the youths is considerably low
(Dinsdale 2015). For instance, in the 2008 general election, only 78,000 young voters turned
out to vote. In fact, even the eligible Kiwis never registered as reported by Wood (2017). This
implies that the youths never turn out to vote or enrol to vote. The issue affects nearly all the
countries across the world where the youth turnout remains below the average. This long-
standing issue forms the basis of this study because it explains why it has become a policy
concern.
Why the low level of youth engagement is a policy problem
The youths will form the leadership of tomorrow. This has to be addressed today to
avoid disenfranchisement. Studies have indicated that the disenfranchised youths can
debilitate a country thus making this issue a policy concern (Dinsdale 2015). To this effect,
many countries are committing research to highlight the underlying reasons for the low
participation in the voting process (Wood 2013). The future leadership must be encouraged to
engage in their democratic rights to avoid the gap in representation.
Causes
The New Zealand Electoral Commission conducted a study to identify the reasons for
the low turnout among the youths. According to the findings, the commission realized that
the youths are intimidated and overwhelmed by the political process (Electoral Commission
2

Surname Youth and Political Participation in New Zealand
2015). This implies that the group is less motivated to engage in the process. The politicians
have become distrusted thus frustrate the political processes. The commission also blamed
the low turnout on the lack of political knowledge and motivation (Trevett 2013; Riley 2015).
For example, lack of communication and voter education is some of the barriers to process.
Additionally, the legible Kiwis or non-voter segments appeared disinterested in the political
activities (Stones-Havas 2015). These people also lack motivation and knowledge to enhance
their participation in the process. The study also showed that many youths identify the
enrolment difficulties thus inconveniences them (Wood 2017). The segment believes that
voting process is tedious and a waste of time. As such, they rarely value it.
The principled voters have made it personal conviction not to vote. For instance, these
segment view that their votes are ineffective because it can never influence the policies (The
Economist 2014). To this effect, they value petitioning, volunteering, and protesting to
influence the political policies. Additionally, the NZ Commission found that young people
would vote if their parents voted previously (Electoral Commission 2015). The other causes
of low voter turnout include the lack of civic education, the inability of votes to bring change,
difficulties navigating the process of voting. Political alienation, inconvenience, knowledge,
and apathy are some barriers to political participation among the youths (Dinsdale 2015).
Therefore, the commission should enlighten them to understand voting is not a duty but a
right.
Policy Solutions
a. Promotion of voter registration
The youths in New Zealand requires a continued training in the participation of the
voting process. The youths should be taken through civic participation training to enlighten
them on their role as explained by Yeung, Passmore and Packer (2012). This should involve
creating opportunity and promoting voter registration for the youths. The effort will see the
3