Elections 2024
As national elections take place in more than 50 countries and the EU in 2024, we spotlight youth perspectives on civic participation and decode the political landscape.
We start with our new series “Wh-Y Vote? 2024” covering the European Parliament elections.
Wh-Y Vote?
Between 6 and 9 June 2024, voters in all 27 countries of the European Union go to the polls to select representatives of the 700+-member European Parliament, the only directly elected transnational assembly in the world.
The last EU election, in 2019, saw the first increase in voter turnout in 40 years. The leap to just over 50% was largely thanks to a so-called ‘youth surge’: namely a 12% increase in turnout among 25 to 39-year olds and a 14% increase among the under 25s.
Senior EU figures heralded the result as a new era of civic engagement and evidence of strengthened support for the EU. Yet, even with the increase, only half of eligible voters cast a ballot and turnout actually decreased in eight countries.
The 2024 election will include, for the first time, 16-year olds in Germany and Belgium, joining their Maltese and Austrian counterparts who were granted the vote in the 2000s.
News Decoder’s Wh-Y Vote? series aims to shed light on these questions by examining how young people across the European Union feel about the upcoming election. What influence do they believe the EU has on their lives? Why are young people voting or not voting? What are the issues driving them to or away from the polling station?
Correspondents based in France, Denmark, Hungary, Latvia and Poland have sought the views of young voters and non-voters as well as election experts in their respective countries and, over the course of five articles, will paint a nuanced and candid portrait of the state of the youth vote in the run up to polling day.
Read all the articles in the EU series — plus our worldwide 2024 elections coverage — below.
Why social media hasn’t ruined our democracy (yet)
Recent elections show that social media can affect political outcomes. A single post can alter public opinion. How does this affect direct democracies? A hand casts a vote while...
Trading in bullets for ballots in Sri Lanka
After failed attempts to topple the Sri Lankan government, a rebel group has come to power through peaceful means, with the help of a youth movement. Youth took to the streets in...
How the U.S. election plays out elsewhere
Western countries have been obsessively following the U.S presidential election. Around the world, there are reasons people are taking note. Campaign signs for the candidates in...
Fighting systemic corruption through the ballot box
In Sri Lanka and elsewhere, people are telling elected politicians to clean up their act or find themselves out of a job. Supporters of National People's Power cheer their leader...
Decoder Replay: If politicians lie what should the media do?
U.S. presidents have often twisted the truth. But Donald Trump has flooded the media with falsehoods in a unique challenge to democratic institutions. Republican presidential...
Decoder: Can the U.S. immigration system be fixed?
One candidate in the upcoming election vows to deport millions of people. The other wants complicated changes to current laws. Is either solution feasible? A group claiming to be...
Decoder Replay: The paradox of poverty and plenty in Venezuela
The chaos taking place in Venezuela over its recent election feels like a rerun. Why can't a nation rich in oil satisfy the needs and desires of its people? Nicolas Maduro dances...
With Labour leading in Britain, people look for calm after chaos
With its sixth prime minister in eight years, will the British finally be able to stop faffing around and get on with it? Larry the cat, Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office at 10...
Decoder: How crazy is the U.S. electoral system?
Why the winner of the most votes in the U.S. presidential election might lose the presidency. A map shows the results of the Electoral College in the 2016 U.S. presidential...
Frustrated and fed up: Youth turnout could hit a record low in UK election
In the run-up to the UK elections, young people in Britain struggle to know where to turn. Their voice counts but does anyone listen? Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and...
Is this year of elections also the year of deepfakes?
Many people around the world already distrust their election systems. What will happen when artificial intelligence enters the picture? A man creates a deep fake image of former...
What you need to know about France’s snap elections
We asked two correspondents based in France why the high-stakes national election matters. Here's what they said. From the left, French far-right Rassemblement National (National...
Give youth a good reason to vote
There is a belief that young people don't care enough to cast a ballot. But maybe politicians need to address the issues they care about. (Illustration by News Decoder) This...
Wh-Y Vote? When individuals vote across national borders
We asked our reporters in five countries to talk to young people about the European elections. They know their voice matters. A European ballot box against the backdrop of...
Wh-Y Vote?: Poland’s youth want a say in European affairs
Young people in Poland know that European integration is important. But they struggle to connect to political bodies that seem far away. People wave both European and Polish...
Wh-Y Vote?: Generation Z could turn Hungary’s EU vote
Hungary's current government distances itself from the European Union. But young people share a different mindset. A government billboard reading "Let's not dance to their tune"...
Wh-Y Vote? Latvian youth like Europe. Voting not so much.
Latvian youth are not accustomed to democratic participation. How can they be encouraged? A woman walks by the European Union House in Riga, Latvia 1 June 2024. In Latvian, the...
Wh-Y Vote?: In Denmark youth seek European solutions
With fjords dying and seas rising, Danish youth will go to the polls knowing the nation's problems are transnational. People vote at the Groendal Center in Copenhagen during the...
Wh-Y Vote?: French youth struggle to find reasons to cast a European ballot
Freedom to travel across borders comes with EU citizenship. But will la jeunesse travel across town to vote as Europeans? French Green Party candidate for the European Elections...
Wh-Y Vote 2024 is funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.