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Austria will make history in the European Union on Sunday by becoming the first member of the 27-nation bloc to give 16-year-olds a voice in national elections. And Stanke, one of up to 200,000 eligible Austrian teenagers, is not about to pass up this opportunity. "Yes, I'm going to vote," Stanke, who turned 16 this week, said on a recent afternoon as she chatted with friends outside her school in central Vienna. Stanke has a slew of choices. Following the collapse in July of the governing coalition between the center-left Social Democrats and the center-right People's Party, 10 parties have said they want to govern the Alpine republic. But only about half have a realistic chance of making it into Parliament, where 183 seats are up for grabs. The latest polls, without specifying a margin of error, show the Social Democrats clinging to a three-point lead over the People's Party. The far-right Freedom Party is expected to come in a strong third. The Greens and the far-right Alliance for the Future of Austria are also expected to make it. With a tight race predicted at the top, the two main parties are flirting with first-time voters and - to some extent - making an effort to cater to a younger crowd. For the Social Democrats, 27-year-old Laura Rudas, who is ranked fourth on the party's list of candidates, is doing most of the reaching out. Vote could make the difference "During this election, it could be decisive," she said. "Every vote counts." Rudas, who has held a seat in Parliament since January 2007, said she considers it her role to show young people that "politics can change the world." With her leather jacket and tight jeans, Rudas does not quite fit the picture of a politician. Neither does her counterpart at the People's Party, Silvia Fuhrmann, who is also 27. She said that how young people vote "won't be decisive, but is still important." Fuhrmann, herself a member of Parliament, said the People's Party had agreed to lower the voting age for demographic reasons, noting that Austrian society, like others in Europe, is growing older. Experts say that this is exactly why teenagers will not have much of an impact Sunday. "The 2008 parliamentary elections are predominantly going to be decided by people over the age of 50," said Ferdinand Karlhofer, head of the University of Innsbruck political science department. Christoph Hofinger, a director of the Sora Institute for Social Research and Analysis in Vienna, agreed. "They will be about 2 ½ to 3 percent of the entire electorate and so their influence on the results is going to be small," Hofinger said. Giving 16- and 17-year-olds the right to vote may improve the balance between the generations. But the core of the messages from the parties focuses more on middle-aged and elderly voters, he said. Still, it seems unlikely that Heinz-Christian Strache, leader of the far-right Freedom Party, came up with a rap song - "Viva HC" - to sell his anti-foreigner message to seniors. Lowering the voting age came about as a political compromise between the Social Democrats and the People's Party, which wanted to give citizens living in the country the option to vote by absentee ballot. In the end, both became law. Austrian 16-year-olds have already been able to vote in some local elections. The same is true in other places, including neighbouring Germany. Other places that allow voting at 16 include Brazil, Cuba, Nicaragua and the Isle of Man, a British dependency in the Irish Sea. Peter Filzmaier, one of Austria's most respected political commentators, said the Greens would likely benefit most from the young, first-time voters. Walter Holub, director of a high school in Vienna, said interest in politics varies among the teenagers he oversees. "A large majority still appears to be rather indifferent," Holub said. Further information
pdf: http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/25/europe/austria.php