Conte, Di Maio back lowering voting age to 16

(ANSA) - Rome, September 30 - Premier Giuseppe Conte and Foreign Minister and 5-Star Movement (M5S) leader Luigi Di Maio said Monday that they were in favour of lowering the voting age to 16. At the moment, Italians have to wait until they are 18 to be able to vote for their representatives in the Lower House and 25 for the lawmakers in the Senate.
    "Lowering the voting threshold to 16 is fine by me," said Conte.
    "They already have it in other countries," he said.
    "We still haven't started discussing it in the government but we could do: but it might be better to do it in parliament".
    Di Maio said via Facebook: "Giving the vote to 16-year-olds is a proposal that we have always been behind and which we support strongly".
    "In Italy young people are called choosy, spoilt, 'Gretini', ('little Gretas', referring to climate crisis activist Greta Thunberg).
    "As far as we are concerned, these people should be respected, listened to and put at the centre of our political world. "If a 16-year-old can work and pay taxes, they should also have the right to vote and decide who makes decisions about their life".