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Cynical attitudes to voting accompanied by a poor understanding of the Assembly were the overriding sentiments of young people in Wales during the election period, according to The National Assembly for Wales elections 2003 report released today by The Electoral Commission.  

The report confirms that official turnout on 1 May was 38% of those registered to vote, with NOP opinion research revealing that turnout varied from 16% of the under 25's through to as many as 56% of the over 55's. 

Turnout amongst younger voters fell disproportionately compared with the fall in the electorate as a whole. The UK already has the largest gap in terms of voting between the young and old across the whole of the democratic world.   

Glyn Mathias, Electoral Commissioner for Wales, said;

'Our research confirms the general hypothesis of the established work on electoral participation and age that the youngest sections of society are more likely to opt-out of the electoral process than their older counterparts. What is of concern is the extent to which this has been true in Wales this year.'

The report states that this may have been reinforced by the fact that none of the political parties in this election appeared to make specific efforts address its messages in particular to younger voters. Examples of statements made by young focus group participants include:

'It's a bit uncool to vote. If somebody says I'm not going, you say well, I'm not going either.' 
Non-voter - Caernarfon - female

'I only know a couple of people my age who voted, but they're the next Tony Blairs, the sad ones.'
Non-voter - Caernarfon - female

Nevertheless, the report states that many young people do have strong opinions on issues which affect them. In public opinion research conducted for The Electoral Commission by MORI, relating to the elections to take place in 2004, it was clear that even among disaffected young people, there are strong, articulated opinions on issues which affect their own lives:

Though they have well formed opinions on, and are well able to discuss, issues such as mobile phones, sex, crime and their local neighbourhood, they have little patience with political debate, which seems to them to occupy a parallel universe to the one they inhabit.  It should not be assumed that this group are 'apathetic'. However, they do not make the connection between their personal dissatisfaction with a particular aspect of public life and participating in traditional processes as a way of a way of expressing that dissatisfaction or seeking a solution to these problems.

Glyn Mathias, Commissioner for Wales, says;  

'In seeking to encourage young people to participate in the democratic processes it is essential that politicians, political parties, and election candidates get their messages across in ways which identify the connections between issues which impact on young people and those democratic processes'

Glyn Mathias continues:

The Electoral Commission itself will continue to work hard to engage the younger generation with the democratic process, namely through the appointment of an Outreach Officer for Wales who will be working in communities across Wales with young people, and the launch of our second 'Votes are Power' design competition.'

The Electoral Commission will also conduct further research to identify best practice examples of political parties engaging with the public, and will organise a seminar of interested parties and the media in Wales to discuss election reporting.  

For further information contact:

Heledd Evans or Matthew Appleby on 029 20 388 621 / hevans@golleyslater.co.uk / mappleby@golleyslater.co.uk

Notes to editors:

1. A full copy of the report can be found at (insert website line)
2. The Electoral Commission is an independent body established by Parliament. It aims to ensure public confidence and participation in the democratic process within the United Kingdom through modernisation of the electoral process and promotion of public awareness of electoral matters.
3. The Electoral Commission is looking at minimum voting and candidacy age partly in response to recommendations from young people made in the Y Vote/Y Not project carried out by the Children and Young People's Unit in 2001-2. The project report 'Young people and politics' and it's 'Upfront' summary were published in July 2002.
4. In the European Union and most Western democracies there is a minimum voting age of 18; although there are some variations within countries, e.g. a higher voting age for senior levels of government and a lower voting age for local elections.

/ends