New Zealand court rules voting age of 18 is discriminatory

Category : International Published on: November 23 2022

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New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said the New Zealand government will draft legislation to change the voting age to 16, after a landmark Supreme Court ruling that the existing age of 18 was discriminatory and breached the human rights of young people.
The case was brought by advocacy group make it 16 in 2020, in a bid to lower the voting age from 18 to 16.
New Zealand's Supreme Court, in a ruling delivered on 21 November 2022, said the country's current voting age of 18 is discriminatory. The Supreme Court found that the current voting age of 18 was inconsistent with the country's Bill of Rights, which gives people the right to be free from age discrimination once they turn 16.
However, there are some countries in the world that allow voting till the age of 16. They are Brazil, Ecuador, Austria, Cuba, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey, Malta, Nicaragua and Scotland.