Change begins now
- 2010 Elections -
By Niel Lim
Team RP
MANY people dismiss the strength of a youth vote. In the last three elections (2001, 2004 and 2007), the youth have constituted a bulk of the votes, enough to make a candidate win, but these votes were dispersed. Pundits say that because the youth’s voting patterns can’t be classified as much as other demographics, a so-called youth vote does not exist.
But the youth definitely has an agenda to pursue. In 2005, the National Youth Commission (NYC) reported that across regions, education, employment and health ranked as the top three survival and developmental issues of which the youth were most concerned. Substance abuse, juvenile delinquency and child abuse were also cited as the top protection issues and governance (national, local and in the Sangguniang Kabataan), youth involvement and access to information as the top participation issues. So how can a demographic with a concrete agenda and shared aspiration not constitute a powerful voting bloc?
In the last 2004 presidential elections, around 13 million voters were within the 18- to 24-year-old bracket and almost five million of them were first-time voters. Unfortunately, roughly two million more failed to register. In the same year, the President won with only one million votes more than her closest opponent. Had the two million youth voters registered and voted, it could have tipped the scale. In fact, the youth comprised a third of the overall voting population in 2004 and had they rallied behind a single candidate, who embodied their aspirations, that candidate could have won with at least 15 million votes.
