Meet the young voters making history in the Scottish election.

(Getty)

When the people of Scotland head to the polling stations on Thursday to choose which party they would like to represent them at Holyrood for the next five years, more than 100,000 16 and 17-year-olds will be included in the electorate for the first time, as a result of legislation passed by the Scottish Parliament last year.

To mark the occasion, i spoke to a selection of first-time voters about who they were supporting, and why.

Some have already had their first taste of democracy by casting a vote in 2014’s Scottish independence referendum, for which the voting age was 16 – only to find themselves disenfranchised at last year’s UK general election, which was only open to those aged 18 or over.

“One of the main reasons I’m going to vote SNP is the idea that they’re the party of Scotland and always have Scotland at heart. All the other parties are controlled by UK-wide party leaders. I was just old enough to vote in the independence referendum, and I voted Yes because I think the best people to take decisions about our country are the people who live and work here.

“I think younger people as a whole were more inclined to vote Yes than older people. Among me and my friends, we felt it was our future and we wanted to determine it. You could argue that engagement isn’t as high for this election, but it does affect us. We’re all looking to go to university, and the idea that we would have to pay to get an education seems ridiculous, we all feel so sorry for students in England.

“I won’t be able to vote in the EU referendum, I’m missing out by a few days. It’s very infuriating – words fail to describe how irritating it is. The situation will be that I’ll have voted in a referendum, then couldn’t vote in an election, then will have voted in another election but not in a referendum. To me, that’s completely and utterly ridiculous. The EU forms such a cornerstone of our lives – why shouldn’t we be able to have a say in it?”



By Chris Green.
Full story at Inews.