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Elio García Calleja : “E-voting can increase participation in elections, especially among young people”

Interview with Elio García Calleja, one of the participants in the e-voting referendum on the school charta (11-22 October)

For Elio García Calleja, age 17, second-year bachillerato student at the Eras de Renueva secondary school in León, Spain, the Council of Europe took a very good initiative in asking schools to contribute to the drawing up of a “European Charter for democratic schools without violence” because “I think that in Europe cohesion must be sought not only between political institutions but also between young people. It was quite right to involve schools”.

Léon (Spain), 15 october, 2004

Elio García Calleja is one of the Spanish students who, along with students from other countries, took part in the working meetings held in Strasbourg in July to draft the text of the Charter, which is currently being used as the basis for an experiment in e-voting in 82 schools in 19 European countries. Asked whether there was anything missing from the seven-point text of the Charter, Elio said it was important to speak not only about violence in schools, but also about that which exists outside schools because, he explained, “it ultimately affects academic performance and relations within the school. I think the text does not go far enough because violence outside schools has repercussions inside. Otherwise I’m fully in agreement with the text of the Charter”.

At the Eras de Renueva secondary school in León, which is attended by over one thousand pupils, there are no conflict situations to report. School life at this institution situated in the centre of the city goes on quite normally. What Elio would like to change at the school is student participation. He feels that young people should be more involved in school policy-making. The Eras de Renueva school has a “school council” to which the students elect their representatives, but, as Elio puts it, “people don’t really care”. In his view, “there should be incentives to student participation, and this would make school life more democratic”.

He found the e-voting experiment interesting. “It’s a new experiment which is on the right track and I think it guarantees personal and secret voting and can encourage a higher participation rate in elections. It’s more convenient to switch on your computer and vote than to have to go to the polling station. It can help to increase the number of voters, especially among young people”. Elio believes that, in general, the application of electronic innovations to public authority decision-making processes can improve democratic life. Everything that is done to consult the electorate is a good thing, and the more the better: that means not only turning out to vote every four years, but also, more generally, greater public participation in government. I think any initiative to increase citizen involvement in politics is good, and new technology can be a great help”.