Election History Bites | Teen spirit: Voting at 16

The 2022 general election was the first in which voters aged 16 and 17 could vote.

The age threshold for voting was reduced to 16 from 18, for all elections, in 2018 after parliament unanimously approved the Vote 16 Act. Three years’ earlier, the first phase of the reform saw 16-year-olds able to vote in local elections.

The 2018 legal amendment meant that Malta became only the second EU member state after Austria at the time to lower the national voting age for all elections to 16.

The first national election in which 16-year-olds cast their vote came in 2019 when they voted in the European Parliament election. Three years later, 16-year-olds voted in the general election for the first time.

In 2023, the third phase of the reform was introduced with parliament approving legal changes that allowed 16-year-olds to serve as mayors of their locality if chosen so by the electorate.

Election History Bites powered by Agenda Bookshop is a series of election-inspired stories that will be published from Monday to Friday every morning throughout the election campaign