Council promotes voice for young people

Denbighshire Youth and Education services are urging young people to make sure their voices are heard by registering as an election candidate or to vote in the first ever Welsh Youth Parliament Election.

Young people in Wales aged from 11 up to 18 years are eligible to stand for election or to vote

Sixty members will make up Welsh Youth Parliament and it will empower young people to identify and raise awareness of the issues that matter to them.

Denbighshire is urging young people to sign up to vote or as a candidate for the inaugural Welsh Youth Parliament election.

In the week beginning the September 17 Denbighshire Youth Services are holding a registration to vote week, at all youth centres across the county.

Staff will be on hand to support you through the process.

If you are interested in becoming part of the Welsh Youth Parliament then go along on September 24 to the Hwb in Denbigh where the council will support you to complete your candidate application. For more information, email: youth.service@denbighshire.gov.uk.

The Welsh Youth Parliament will provide a voice for young people to raise awareness and debate the issues that matter to them. Working with the National Assembly for Wales, these issues can then be brought before the people with the power to make changes happen.

There will be 60 Welsh Youth Parliament Members. Forty of these will be elected via First Past the Post through an electronic voting system in each of the 40 electoral constituencies in Wales. Twenty will be returned by partner organisations to ensure the representation of diverse groups of young people.

All young people in Wales, between the ages of 11 and up to 18, can take part by registering to vote in the online election which will be in November 2018.

Register to vote: 28/05/2018 – 16/11/2018

Apply to be part of the Welsh Youth Parliament: 03/09/2018 – 30/09/2018

Elections: 05/11/2018 – 25/11/2018

Welsh Youth Parliament announced: December 2018

The first meeting of the Welsh Youth Parliament will be held in February 2019.

The National Assembly Commission agreed to establish a youth parliament in September 2017 following an extensive consultation with more than 5,000 young people around Wales. 

The National Assembly has also worked closely with a steering group of youth organisations providing expert guidance and, critically, views from the point of view of young people which contributed to the shaping of the new Welsh Youth Parliament.

* More information is available on the Welsh Youth Parliament website:  www.youthparliament.wales.