Cameroon to establish national youth council

Elections will begin October 15 for a new Cameroon National Youth Council. Only members of organizations that have registered with the Ministry of Youth Affairs will be eligible to vote or stand for election. Candidates may run for election at the municipal, divisional, regional and national levels. Elections will run through the end of October.

Last January the government released the electoral code for the election of the Council's executive bureau. Concerns were raised at that time by youth organizations about the registration requirement and about a requirement that organizations intending to present candidates pay levies for the privilege of doing so. Fako Divisional Delegate of Youth Affairs Isaac Ikombe Mbua responded that the levies provide a way to discourage candidates who were not serious about standing for election. The fees run from FCFA 5,000 for an office at the local level to FCFA 50,000 for candidates running for President of the Executive Bureau.

The levies and registration requirement are a genuine concern as they will certainly limit the pool of candidates, and thus may lead to the election of a council that is not truly representative of the youth of Cameroon.

National Youth Council Set for Takeoff

Youth Counsellors Elections - Preparations Underway

North Carolina allows voter pre-registration for 16-year-olds

North Carolina lawmakers recently passed a bipartisan bill that will allow 16 and 17-year-olds to pre-register to vote (H 908). Young people will be able to register in school and at the motor vehicles department when applying for a driver's license. The bill also requires schools to provide voter registration information in students' 10th-grade civics courses, encourages school districts to promote voter registration, and it includes schools in the annual voter registration drives conducted by local election boards.

The bill was co-sponsored by, among others, the youngest Republican and the youngest Democrat in the General Assembly.

North Carolina Passes Key Youth Voting Reform

Nigerian youth coalition demands representation on electoral commission

A coalition of students and youth organizations in Nigeria has called on the House of Representatives to adopt a constitutional amendment allowing for youth representation on the board of the country's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The group, calling itself the Northern Youth Coalition on Electoral Reform, is also seeking to lower the minimum age requirement for serving in the House and Senate to 25 and 30 years, respectively.

The coalition wants to INEC board to include at least two members between the ages of 18 and 35 and points to Uganda's National Youth Statute of 1993 and Participation Act of 1995 as models for legislation.

According to the Northern Youth Coalition,

"Democracy is about numbers. Youths constitute a larger percentage of our population and so cannot be neglected. We have power in our numbers, therefore our interest must be reflected on INEC board."

Northern coalition wants representation on INEC Board

Moroccan youth eager to participate in communal elections

Note: This refers to elections that took place in Morocco June 12, but it's still pretty interesting.

Communal elections were held recently in Morocco. As the elections approached, observers noted a major difference from the last national poll. In 2007, young people seemed apathetic. This time, however, many young Moroccans planned to vote, or even stand for election themselves.

Some young Moroccans were skeptical:

“Whether we go to the ballot boxes or not, whether we defended our own existence and run in the elections or not, the situation will be the same,” university student Rachid complains.

“It's the same old clichés – democracy, change, transparency, and service of public interests – which can be seen in all party slogans and speeches by their leaders, but we don't see any implementation on the ground,” he says.

Others are more hopeful:

“Participation in communal elections this year represents a break with the past,” Younes Naoumi tells Magharebia. “It's also an opportunity for young people to defy the stereotype that some people give us as the weak link in building Moroccan society.”

Naoumi is among 25 candidates under 30 years old who will be on the ballot June 12th for local leadership positions in the Hay Mohammedi neighbourhood of Casablanca. He has a strong desire to change the traditional image of communal advisor because, to his view, communal officials have consistently failed to achieve the goals and needs of their constituents.

Morocco's National Institute for Youth and Democracy (NIYD) offered training and support for the young candidates. About forty young men and women were accompanied during the campaign by NIYD experts who advised them to be tolerant and to respect their competitors, and not to make false promises.

Moroccan youth eager to participate in communal elections