Concrete actions and steps to encourage young voters, including first-time ones interested in casting their votes were outlined by the representatives of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Moldova (CEC), the Centre for Continuous Electoral Training (CCET), the organisation People, Dialog and Change in the tele-conference on July 28, 2020. The discussions took place in the context of intended implementation of the Toolkit for Electoral Management Bodies on Awareness Raising with Young Voters in Autumn Presidential electoral campaign 2020 in the Republic of Moldova.
The toolkit was developed by the Electoral Assistance and Civil Society Division of the Council of Europe in co-operation with the People, Dialog and Change and encompasses the best European practices on youth involvement in electoral exercise. Following the presentation of the toolkit in June 2020, the CEC and the CCET decided to benefit from some out of the box opportunities provided by the toolkit.
Among prospective actions, that might have an impact on the young voters, participants mentioned the need to review the CEC and CCET communication strategies/campaigns for the upcoming Presidential elections using messages and social platforms with special focus on the youth, the possibility to update training materials designed for kids, teenagers and first-time voters, as well as to set up a focus group within the National Youth Council to spread messages concerning importance of the youth voting.
Representatives of the CEC and CCET welcomed the possibility to pilot the Toolkit on Awareness Raising with Young Voters in the Republic of Moldova with the Council of Europe expert assistance and underlined that activities ought to start under the tight deadlines already in the beginning of September 2020 so as to make sure that young voters will benefit from encouraging campaign and techniques during September – October 2020.
The activity is implemented by the Council of Europe within the on-going project “Improving electoral practice in the Republic of Moldova”.
