Voting at 18!

The Federal Election Act is amended

Whereas the Parliament of Imperial Germany was elected by men aged 25 and over, the Weimar Republic introduced women’s suffrage and lowered the voting age to 20. After the Second World War, the right to vote was raised to 21 in West Germany, whilst candidates for election had to be 25. For their part, East Germans came of age at 18 and could vote three years earlier than their cousins in the West.

After a debate – in which reformers noted that 18-year-old men were expected to perform military service – the West German government moved on 9 June 1972 to lower the voting age to 18 and the age of candidature to 21. This was followed two years later with the lowering of the age of majority to 18, which meant that people could now stand for parliament at the age of 18. In 1995, children aged 16 were given the right to vote in many local elections and, in 2009, in some state elections. In 2023, Baden-Württemberg gave 16-year olds the right to stand as a candidate in local elections.