With Central Election Off the Table, Labour Looks to Lower Voting Age in Local Elections
November 22, 2022
PHOTO: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Labour ministers are considering whether to allow 16-year-olds to vote in council elections - an easier task than for central elections.
National says its entire caucus would vote against legislation to make the voting age 16, making it extremely unlikely to pass because such a change would require a supermajority in Parliament - three quarters of MPs.
However, making the change for local body elections would only require 50 percent of MPs - and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said they had not ruled out tackling that separately.
“Haven’t ruled that out, but again we only received this significant decision from the Supreme Court yesterday,” she said.
“Parliament now has six months to debate and then return a decision, in that time we’ll take some advice on the differences, for instance, in how local versus central government elections are treated.”