German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier says he is open to lowering the voting age for federal elections to 16.
In the wake of the demographic shift, he believes it is “not only necessary but imperative to think about balancing the weight of younger people by lowering the voting age to 16 in federal elections as well,” he said in an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
The move to reduce voting ages has long been pushed by the left-wing Social Democrats and Green party. Young people are increasingly likely to vote for these parties, and many of them are either foreign-born or the children of immigrants, which fuels their support for pro-migration parties.
At the same time, the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) and the Alternative for Germany (AfD) advocate that voting rights only apply to those 18 and up.
Steinmeier also said he was open to allowing longer legislative terms in the Bundestag, which would mean less opportunities to vote for the population. Under such a scenario, politicians would spend five years in office instead of the current four.
“I can appreciate the idea of giving the Bundestag more time for legislative substantive work. Especially in a time of overlapping crises,” he said.