Youngsters aged 16 or 17 will have to vote in the elections for the European Parliament on 9 June. Belgium’s Constitutional Court has ruled they should be treated in the same way as all other - adult - voters. Ministers intend to now consider the ruling, especially given the fact that non-voting adolescents risk a penalty if they fail to attend a polling place.
"All Belgian 16 and 17-year-olds obliged to vote in European elections"
Colin Clapson
Published:
Over two years ago, Belgium decided to extend the right to vote for the European Parliament and allow young people as young as 16 to vote. Until now, the obligation to vote applied from the age of 18.
Last year, the Constitutional Court ruled against a provision in the law that required the 270,000 16- and 17-year-olds in Belgium to register first in order to be able to vote. According to the Court, that registration requirement was unjustified.
Now, the Court has suspended the provision in the law that would only make voting mandatory to adults and not to 16- and 17-year-olds.
The ruling means that voting will be compulsory for voters aged 16 and 17. It also means that they can be sanctioned if they fail to turn out.
What sanctions minors will face, ministers do not yet know.
Adults who fail to show up at the polling station initially risk a fine, but those who fail to show up four times in a 15-year period could lose their civil rights, and therefore their right to vote.
In practice, non-voters are usually not prosecuted, due to lack of manpower at public prosecutors' offices.
Lore Sleeckx of the Flemish Pupils Association says the situation is not ideal. "This will have to be explained to hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren for a third time. Not ideal, so close to the elections. Certainly not because these elections coincide with the exams."
Nevertheless, the association is happy that 16- and 17-year-olds are allowed to vote for the European Parliament.