February 27, 2007
Should Jordan’s Voting Age Be Lowered?
Naseem Tarawnah, a Jordanian blogger asks whether the voting age should be lowered to 16 in Jordan:
Perhaps one of the biggest aids in encouraging Jordanian youth to get involved in politics is the lowering of the voting age. And I’m not talking about various debate skirmishes in the past few years that finally resulted in lowering the voting from 19 to 18 in the last elections (2003) but rather from 18 to 16. It’s one of those things I always thought about in the back of my mind and I think it warrants worthy consideration given the fact that half the country is under the age of 25.
One could argue that granting youth the ability to vote at a young age instills a sense of social responsibility as well as democratic values at the core of the citizenry.
However, what this issue relies on is the question of whether a Jordanian at the age of 16 has the ability to make conscious political decisions.
In any case, I think it’s an issue that deserves to be debated on a national level.
What do you think?
Certainly we here at NYRA think it should be lowered. Good to see someone asking the right questions in Jordan. :b:
