Our story
We would like to make young people realize that voting is a way of expression
of one's will and solving problems. We consider it very important
to hold dialogues with the youth in the electoral process therefore
we decided to create a website which provides useful information as
well as it incites interactive cooperation, makes to think about the
influencies that the elections and our elected representatives have
on our daily life.
The fact that elections are not that
attractive for the youth then other forms of civic activities cannot
be explained only by mentioning the characteristics of the age group
and it does not mean that youngsters are disinterested in public affairs.
Youngsters from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lithuania, Hungary, Germany,
the Russian Federation and Spain attended the seminar we organised in
April 2004, in Budapest. In the course of the seminar we elaborated
the content of this website and we learned by the programs and methods
of our countries implemented to promote youth activity on elections
and in the public life as well.On this website we would like to present
and pass on the participants's ideas and knowledge we aquired
in the seminar. One of the key lessons of the seminar is that we have
to make a difference between „votocracy” and democracy.
While the basic pillar of democracy is to have free and fair election
in every country, holding elections will not lead to democracy automatically.
We have to show the role of elections in democracy and also their impacts
on our daily life and our close environment. Furthermore, we are convinced
that we should make clear for youngsters the importance of paying attention
to democratic values also in small communities /family, school, local
groups etc./ in order to strenghten democracy in the whole society and
on the level of high policy.
We have been working on our website
in this spirit and we hope that it helps to understand how elections
shape our daily life and how our choice is followed by consequences.
Association of European Election Officials |
