Will Gen Z Vote Decide Srilanka next Leader?
The dynamics among young people have clearly changed after the people’s struggle and critics believe that they will not remain passive even after the new President is appointed and hold the Executive accountable
As many as one million new voters will exercise their right to vote at the upcoming Presidential Election. According to the Election Commission, 76,000 fresh voters have been registered to cast their voters have been registered to cast their vote from January to June this year. But even though there is need to engage youth in politics, they are often discouraged by the seniors. With no retirement age for politicians, they continue to be evergreen figures in the political landscape; hindering opportunities for the youth to take the lead. But elections observers affirm that the youth vote or rather than the Gen Z (those born between 1997-2012) vote will be a deciding factor in the upcoming Presidential Election.
One of the challenges with regards to gettingoneself registered as a voter is due due to the lack of a permanent residence. Many youth are employed in Colombo and the suburbs and don’t have the facilities to return to their hometown to cast their vote on the day of the election.
Most youth criticise the governance process. Youth organisations should ideally encourage the Election Commission of Sri Lanka to facilities this process. Even though the law states that one has the right to vote after turning 18 years of age, unfortunately due to registration issues, it will take another two, three years for youth to cast their vote. According to the new Persons Registration Act individuals can cast the vote as soon as they turn 18 years of age. As there are close to 17.1 million voters waiting to use their vote at upcoming Presidential Election.
One of the bitter realities at upcoming Presidential Election is that all parties failed to field at least one female candidate for that matter. This clearly shows that our political party system and tradition do not allow or expect a young person or woman to hold any of these leading political offices unless there is a political pedigree. This ingrained structural barriers need to be removed if we hope to see a young leader from outside a nepotistic background running the country one day.
Presidential candidates will need to earn the youth vote by putting in significant effort. Mudslinging against other candidates or political forces may not be enough to convince young voters, over the time, they will change their decision once they realise they were mislead. Even though people don’t have a youth candidate, it is the youth who will decide on the next leader of this country. The dynamics among young people have clearly changed after the people’s struggle, and they will not remain passive even after the President is appointed- they will hold the President accountable for what was promised.
