One million youths will vote for the first time in the coming elections in Argentina

CAF, Development Bank of Latin America, UNICEF, the National Electoral Direction (DINE, for its acronym in Spanish), and the Under-Secretariat for Youth Affairs, with depends on the Ministry of Social Development of Argentina, launched the campaign YoElijoVotar (I Choose to Vote), which promotes the participation of 16 and 17 year old youths who are authorized to vote in the coming Primary, Open, Simultaneous, and Obligatory elections (PASO, for its acronym in Spanish), on August 9th. 

Almost one million youths who, by October 25th will be at least 16 years old, will be able to vote in the coming presidential elections. In 2013, 592,334 youths were authorized to vote, and by August 9th that figure will increase to 933,998 adolescents. This represents an increase of 58 percent in the number of 16 and 17 year old boys and girls who are authorized in the national electoral register. These youths make up 2.9 percent of the national electoral register, which exceeds 32 million registered voters. 

The YoElijoVotar campaign considers youth vote as an expansion of the rights of adolescents, and the consolidation of their participation in public life. Youths will be able to participate during the campaign through the social networks, the web www.yoelijovotar.org.ar , and the available applications in smartphones. These platforms will have the information on voting places and how to vote, among other functional aspects of the electoral process. Youths will also be able to interact and develop their knowledge though interactive games of questions and answers. 

This campaign is supported by the Convention of the Rights of Children (which has a constitutional rank in Argentina, granted by law 26,061), which guarantees all youths the right to express their opinions regarding any matter that affects their social, economic, religious, cultural, and political life, and it also guarantees that those opinions will be taken into consideration at the time of making decisions. 

In this respect, Argentina, together with Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador and Nicaragua, are at the vanguard in promoting the political rights of youths in the region.