Berlin Senate approves bill on lowering voting age to 16

On Tuesday, the Berlin Senate initiated the lowering of the voting age from 18 to 16 on a state level.

The government passed a bill to this effect, which is now to be further discussed and also passed in the House of Representatives. A lowering of the voting age for the House of Representatives had been anchored by the CDU and SPD in their coalition agreement. To do this, the state constitution must be amended by a two-thirds majority.

Around 50,000 more eligible voters at state level

With 16- and 17-year-old German citizens, the number of eligible voters for the Berlin House of Representatives and thus also for referendums would increase by around 50,000 from the last figure of around 2.44 million, according to the Senate. According to the association "Mehr Demokratie," Berlin would be the seventh federal state in which 16- and 17-year-olds are allowed to vote at the state level. Until now, they have already been able to vote in elections to Berlin's district councils, i.e. local parliaments. Following a change in the law at federal level, this now also applies to European elections, for the first time in 2024.