The youth vote has always played an important part in elections, and political parties have always tried to gain the youth vote in some way, shape or form. Today, however, there seems to be more of a drive by both the PN and PL to gain their support.

In Malta, there has been a particular issue, that youths tend to vote for the party their parents vote for, although this has been changing over recent years. Another challenge is actually getting youths to go out and vote, although this might not be as big an issue in Malta as it is elsewhere.

When Vote 16 came in, it was a surprise for many. People from older generations question whether the majority of 16-year-olds have the ability and maturity to make well-informed decisions on the leadership of the country, whether they have the ability to go against who their parents would vote for in an ever increasing polarised political environment.

This is where civic education needs to come in, and the National Youth Council has been calling for robust, age-appropriate civic education schemes in all primary and secondary schools.

Indeed since youths so young have the ability to vote, they should be encouraged to exercise that right but at the same time must be encouraged to take their own decisions and make up their own minds on their political leanings. More in this regard needs to be done.

It must be said that it is true that youths are tomorrow’s leaders, and it is good that both major political parties on the island recognise this.

The PN recently put forward its proposals for the National Youth Policy. Nationalist Party Leader Bernard Grech had said that “the PN seriously believes in young people, thus we have placed this field as one of the main pillars of our vision.”

The party said that young people should be encouraged to take an active part in politics and to make their voices heard. It also said that after the introduction of ‘Vote 16’, the government must provide the necessary training so that interested young people have a good understanding of their obligations and responsibilities once they are encouraged, or have decided, to take the step towards direct political activisim.

Prime Minister Robert Abela has also recently made clear that youths have an important role to play. He stated publicly that he wants to see more youths and women on the Labour Party's list of candidates for the next general election. Indeed he made an appeal for more youth candidates (for the next general election), “which would be crucial in order for me to appoint the most youthful Cabinet in Maltese history."

It seems that both parties are now not only vying for the youth vote, but also to rejuvenate their parties with new blood, in order to bring in new ideas. Both parties should try and have a spread of party officials from diverse backgrounds and varied age groups, in order to create the best possible policies for everyone.