Young people do not show interest in voting because “it is no longer the cool thing to do”, a young woman told the Fiji Law Reform Commission during its electoral law review session in Nasinu on Thursday.
Christal Kapoor said fewer young people were voting because they felt their opinions did not matter.
“It’s no longer appealing, no longer the cool thing to do. My plea to you is how can you change that perception, how can you make that the in-thing?”
She said the consultations should be made “young demographic-friendly” so young people could understand its purpose.
“Look across the room and tell me how many people you see under the age of 30?” she said.
“This is a university, we have students cheering outside from across the room. There are students in the hostel as we speak, but why are they not in here?”
Ms Kapoor also raised the issue of age and politics in her submission.
“How old is old enough to stop being a politician? How young or old do we need to be to come into those spaces and be taken seriously?”
She said she worked with young people who did “amazing work in climate change and the gender space”.
“They would make great politicians and leaders and I would love to see them in power. But when I ask them what’s stopping them from going into those spaces, they say the older generation is never going to take us seriously.”
