Editing Voting age (section)

=== Austria ===
In 2007, Austria became the first member of the [[European Union]] to adopt a voting age of 16 for most purposes.<ref name="Austria 4"/><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Rosenqvist|first=Olof|date=2020|title=Rising to the Occasion? Youth Political Knowledge and the Voting ...Age|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-political-science/article/rising-to-the-occasion-youth-political-knowledge-and-the-voting-age/B52EB949B70DED5EACDA6B2932D3C017/core-reader|journal=British Journal of Political Science|language=en|volume=50|issue=2|pages=781–792|doi=10.1017/S0007123417000515|hdl=10419/166007 |s2cid=151803349|issn=0007-1234|hdl-access=free}}</ref> The voting age had been reduced in Austria from 19 to 18 at all levels in 1992. At that time a voting age of 16 was proposed by the [[The Greens – The Green Alternative|Green Party]], but was not adopted.<ref name="NR pass"/>

The voting age for municipal elections in some [[States of Austria|states]] was lowered to 16 shortly after 2000.<ref name="16 locals">[http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/files/dms/AEM_10002-8073__E__N__S__W__.pdf ''How old is old enough?'' - the minimum age of voting and candidacy in UK elections: consultation paper] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070112073236/http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/files/dms/AEM_10002-8073__E__N__S__W__.pdf |date=12 January 2007 }}, July 2003, UK [[Electoral Commission (United Kingdom)|Electoral Commission]], para. 3.6.</ref> Three states had made the reduction by 2003 ([[Burgenland]], [[Carinthia (state)|Carinthia]] and [[Styria]]),<ref name="16 locals"/> and in May 2003 [[Vienna]] became the fourth.<ref>{{usurped|[https://web.archive.org/web/20070911145438/http://www.votesat16.org.uk/news/000030.html ''Austria joins the votes at 16 club'']}}, [[Votes at 16]]. Retrieved 6 June 2007.</ref> [[Salzburg (state)|Salzburg]] followed suit,<ref>[http://www.jugendvertretung.at/content/site/home/english/article/928.html ''Lowering the Electoral Age''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928170549/http://www.jugendvertretung.at/content/site/home/english/article/928.html |date=28 September 2007}}, Austrian National Youth Council. Retrieved 6 June 2007.</ref><ref name="DW">[http://www.demokratiezentrum.org/en/cms/topics/democracy_debates/elections/index.html ''Elections''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070703112025/http://www.demokratiezentrum.org/en/cms/topics/democracy_debates/elections/index.html |date=3 July 2007}}, Demokratiezentrum Wien. Retrieved 6 June 2007.</ref> and so by the start of 2005 the total had reached at least five states out of nine.<ref>[http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/view01/9E8D42171C86FEE9C1256F8900731350?opendocument ''Committee on Rights of Child Considers Second Periodic Report of Austria''], [[Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights|UNHCHR]], 14 January 2005.</ref> As a consequence of state law, reduction of the municipal voting age in the states of Burgenland, Salzburg and Vienna resulted in the reduction of the regional voting age in those states as well.<ref name="DW"/>

After the [[2006 Austrian legislative election|2006 election]], the winning [[Social Democratic Party of Austria|SPÖ]]-[[Austrian People's Party|ÖVP]] coalition announced on 12 January 2007 that one of its policies would be the reduction of the voting age to 16 for elections in all states and at all levels in Austria.<ref>{{cite news|last=Oleksyn|first=Veronika|title=Austrians split on voting at age 16 plan|publisher=AP/washingtonpost.com|date=12 January 2007|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/12/AR2007011202410.html|access-date=2 February 2007}}</ref> The policy was set in motion by a Government announcement on 14 March,<ref>
{{cite news|title=Austria lowers voting age|publisher=IOL, South Africa|date=14 March 2007|url=http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3&art_id=nw20070314154425183C442915|access-date=30 March 2007}}</ref> and a bill proposing an amendment to the [[Constitution of Austria|Constitution]] was presented to the [[Parliament of Austria|legislature]] on 2 May.<ref>{{cite news|title=Austria lowers voting age to 16|publisher=News 24, South Africa|date=3 May 2007|url=http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_2107576,00.html|access-date=6 May 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070517043147/http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_2107576,00.html|archive-date=17 May 2007}}</ref><ref>[http://www.parlinkom.gv.at/portal/page?_pageid=908,4792751&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL 94 d.B. (XXIII. GP) Bundesverfassungsgesetz, mit dem das Bundes-Verfassungsgesetz geändert wird] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929125239/http://www.parlinkom.gv.at/portal/page?_pageid=908,4792751&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL |date=29 September 2007}}, Republik Österreich Parlament (German).</ref> On 5 June the [[National Council of Austria|National Council]] approved the proposal following a recommendation from its Constitution Committee.<ref name="Austria 4">{{cite news|title=Austria lowers voting age to 16|publisher=EUX.tv&nbsp;— the Europe Channel, the Netherlands|date=5 June 2007|url=http://www.eux.tv/article.aspx?articleId=9251|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930190614/http://www.eux.tv/article.aspx?articleId=9251|archive-date=30 September 2007}}</ref><ref name="NR pass">[http://www.parlinkom.gv.at/portal/page?_pageid=908,5450640&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL Wählen mit 16, Briefwahl, fünfjährige Gesetzgebungsperiode kommen] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929125113/http://www.parlinkom.gv.at/portal/page?_pageid=908,5450640&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL |date=29 September 2007}}, Republik Österreich Parlament (German). Retrieved 6 June 2007.</ref><ref>[http://www.parlinkom.gv.at/portal/page?_pageid=908,5234640&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL Verfassungsausschuss gibt grünes Licht für Wahlrechtsreform] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926234111/http://www.parlinkom.gv.at/portal/page?_pageid=908,5234640&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL |date=26 September 2007 }}, Republik Österreich Parlament (German). Retrieved 25 May 2007.</ref> During the passage of the bill through the chamber relatively little opposition was raised to the reduction, with four out of five parties explicitly supporting it; indeed, there was some dispute over which party had been the first to suggest the idea. Greater controversy surrounded the other provisions of the bill concerning the ''Briefwahl'', or [[postal voting|postal vote]], and the extension of the legislative period for the National Council from four to five years.<ref name="NR pass"/> A further uncontroversial inclusion was a reduction in the [[age of candidacy|candidacy age]] from 19 to 18. The [[Federal Council of Austria|Federal Council]] approved the Bill on 21 June, with no party voting against it.<ref>[http://www.parlinkom.gv.at/portal/page?_pageid=908,5818640&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL Wahlrechtsreform 2007 passiert den Bundesrat] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929123606/http://www.parlinkom.gv.at/portal/page?_pageid=908,5818640&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL |date=29 September 2007 }}, Republik Österreich Parlament (German). Retrieved 30 June 2007.</ref> The voting age was reduced when the Bill's provisions came into force on 1 July 2007.<ref name="final Austria Bill">[http://66.249.91.104/translate_c?hl=en&u=http://www.parlinkom.gv.at/pls/portal/docs/page/PG/DE/XXIII/I/I_00129/FNAMEORIG_079516.HTML 31/BNR (XXIII. GP) Bundes-Verfassungsgesetz] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20070929093109/http://66.249.91.104/translate_c?hl=en&u=http://www.parlinkom.gv.at/pls/portal/docs/page/PG/DE/XXIII/I/I_00129/FNAMEORIG_079516.HTML |date=29 September 2007 }}, ss. 1, 5 and 25, Republik Österreich Parlament (German). Retrieved 1 July 2007.</ref> Austria thus became the first member of the European Union, and the first of the [[developed world]] democracies, to adopt a voting age of 16 for all purposes.<ref name="Austria 4"/> Lowering the voting age encouraged political interest in young people in Austria.  More sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds voted than eighteen-to-twenty-one-year-olds in Austria.<ref>{{Cite web |title=5.2 Youth participation in representative democracy |url=https://national-policies.eacea.ec.europa.eu/youthwiki/chapters/austria/52-youth-participation-in-representative-democracy |access-date=2024-09-22 |website=national-policies.eacea.ec.europa.eu}}</ref>