Over one million young people vote for the first time on June 9th: "We must take action"
Over one million young people, aged between 18 and 22, are voting for the first time on June 9th. Many arrived at the polls early in the morning, and in Iași, there were queues in university campuses.
At least 78% of young people in Romania will vote, according to a survey by the European Commission.
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From the early hours of the morning, young people timidly appeared at polling stations. For more than 1,100,000 of them, it is their first opportunity to vote.
Boy: "I finally feel like I have some power in this country. Since I turned 18, the only significant steps I took were getting my driver's license and going to college, but now with voting, I feel like I can finally make a choice".
We found Oana, 20 years old, in front of a polling station in a university campus in Iași, waiting for her friends to return from voting.
Girl: "We had an exam in the morning, and now voting feels like the second exam of the day. I'm nervous, even if it seems silly to some because, you know, it's just a vote, but a vote can make a difference".
Boy: "I followed my own criteria, which I thought would be better for me, and I voted based on what I knew. It was only based on what I thought".
Girl: "Before, I used to watch others vote and just think about who I would vote for, but I couldn't. Now that I finally can, it feels great, very great, something new".
Some came to vote with their parents.
Girl: "I came with my mom to vote; we felt that we need to take action as a family".
Girl: "They told me to vote for who I feel and believe in, but generally, we have the same opinions".
A European Commission report shows that 78% of Romania's youth want to vote on June 9th, at least for the European Parliament elections.
Indeed, we can say that young people have the power this year. According to INS data, for the first time in many years, we have more young voters than elderly voters. Specifically, there are 4,210,000 young people aged 18 to 34 and 3,960,000 people over 65 years old. That is 250,000 more young people.
This year is also special because 1,110,000 of these young people will have the chance to vote for the first time in their lives, those aged 18 to 22. Of course, the difference will be made by civic spirit, which today translates into voter turnout.
The surveys show an encouraging situation: Romania is first in the European Union regarding young people's intention to vote in the European Parliament elections. Data from the European Commission shows that 78% of young people want to vote, surpassing the European average of 64%.
