Berlin lowers the election age to 16 years: Young people determine in the next member of the House of Representatives!

Berlin lowers the election age to 16 years: Young people determine in the next member of the House of Representatives!

In the Berlin election in 2026, 16- and 17-year-olds will be able to have a say for the first time. The election age for the House of Representatives is reduced by two years. The application for this constitutional change is expected to be brought in after the summer break on September 7th.

In order to reduce the election age, the parliament must agree to a corresponding constitutional change with a two-thirds majority. Although it is not a heart project of the CDU, this was agreed in the black and red coalition agreement. The Greens and the left are for it anyway. Most recently, the election age was lowered from 21 to 18 years in 1970.

The reduction of the elector to 16 years is considered to be strengthened as a strengthening of democracy. Today's generation of the 16-year-olds is more politically committed than before. In addition to a good work-life balance, the social question is also very important to you, explains the SPD state manager Sven Heinemann.

Who benefits from this change? On the one hand, these are the approximately 54,400 young people under the age of 18. So far, these age groups aged 16 and over have only been able to vote in the district parliaments (BVV). For the first time, they will also be entitled to vote for the upcoming European elections.

The Greens could also benefit from the election age from 16. In a test election before the official date, they achieved 25.1 percent of the votes in almost 400 pollenous stations in 2021 and were thus ahead of the SPD (20.8 percent) and the CDU (12.1 percent).

Another effect of reducing the election age is a potentially higher turnout. In the state election in Brandenburg, more first voters under the age of 18 (41.5 percent) went into the polling stations than the slightly older 18- to 20 year olds (34 percent).

Some federal states have been lowering the election age for a long time, including Baden-Württemberg, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Schleswig-Holstein.

With the lowering of the age to 16 years in Berlin, the participation of young people is strengthened and their political say. This is a step towards a fairer and more inclusive democracy.