The dynamics among young people have clearly  changed after the people’s struggle and critics believe that they will  not remain passive even after the new President is appointed and hold  the Executive accountable for what was promised

As many as one million new voters will exercise their right to vote at the upcoming Presidential Elections. According to the Election Commission, 76,000 fresh voters have been registered to cast their vote from January to June this year. But even though there is a need to engage youth in politics, they are often discouraged by the seniors. With no retirement age for politicians, they continue to be evergreen figures in the political landscape; hindering opportunities for the youth to take the lead. But elections observers affirm that the youth vote or rather the Gen Z (those born between 1997-2012) vote will be a deciding factor in the upcoming Presidential Election. 

Misusing opportunities 

One of the challenges with regards to getting oneself registered as a voter is due to the lack of a permanent residence. Many youth are employed in Colombo and the suburbs and don’t have the facilities to return to their hometown to cast their vote on the day of the election. 

“My observation is that these youth should go to their village and meet with the Grama Niladhari (GN) officers,” said Manjula Gajanayake, Executive Director - Institute for Democratic Reforms and Electoral Reforms. “Most youth criticise the governance process. But some don’t want to meet the GN officers in their respective areas. It is true that they need to earn money, but they should have some relationship with these officers. Otherwise they can’t get involved in the governance process. Our GN officers can sometimes be arrogant and may not facilitate these processes accordingly. In that case it is up to the Public Service Commission and Ministry of Public Administration to train them. The permanent residence is one of the criteria to register oneself. But now the Election Commissionof Sri Lanka will not ask for these specifications if voters can prove that they are living in Colombo and that they need to get registered. It is just a matter of producing a letter from GN officer and they can easily get registered from where they are living in Colombo. But the sad reality about this permanent residence issue is that some would want to admit their children to school by misusing this opportunity. Youth organizations should ideally encourage the Election Commission of Sri Lanka to facilitate this process. People seem to be working for their own privileges instead of looking at the real issues at hand,” he added. 

Gajanayake further said that in 2015 the United Nations Population Fund published a book which revealed that 71.3% of youth are politically inactive and among them 1.3% youth aren’t engaged in any political activities. “My understanding is that there was a 40% youth quota at local government level earlier, but after the introduction of the female quota in 2017, Parliamentarians have removed that 40% quota as well. Now we have youth representation in politics in local government level, but unfortunately the local government election will not be conducted since they need to amend the law,” he said. 

Gajanayake said that it had been a long term demand of elections observation missions to give priority to young voters. “But even though the law states that one has the right to vote after turning 18 years of age, unfortunately due to registration issues, it will take another 2-3 years for youth to cast their votes. But according to the new Persons Registration Act individuals can cast the vote as soon as they turn 18 years of age. As such there are close to 17.1 million voters waiting to use their  vote at the upcoming Presidential Elections. We need to appreciate such positive aspects in our electoral process,” Gajanayake underscored. 

Major deciding factor

One of the bitter realities at the upcoming Presidential Elections is that all political parties failed to field at least one female candidate for that matter. Sachinda Dulanjana, Youth Policy Expert and Former Speaker of Sri Lanka Youth Parliament said that this clearly shows that our political party system and tradition do not allow or expect a young person or woman to hold any of these leading political offices unless there is a political pedigree. “These ingrained structural barriers need to be removed if we hope to see a young leader from outside a nepotistic background running the country one day,” said Dulanjana.

“Though it might be a long shot, the youth vote in the upcoming election could be the major deciding factor. In a digital era, where much political campaigning has shifted to online platforms, I personally believe the youth vote is not something that can be easily influenced and will remain undecided until the last moment of the election—unlike adult voters, who may have already made decisions based on political party bias or personal preferences,” Dulanjana explained. 

He further said that presidential candidates will need to earn the youth vote by putting in significant effort. “Mere mudslinging against other candidates or political forces may not be enough to convince young voters because many have access to diverse sources of information, even if they don’t verify details immediately. Over time, they will change their decision once they realise they were misled. Thus, I strongly believe that even though we don’t have a youth candidate, it is the youth who will decide on the next leader of this country. The dynamics among young people have clearly changed after the people’s struggle, and they will not remain passive even after the President is appointed—they will hold the President accountable for what was promised,” he added. 

An informed generation

Explaining further, Darshatha Gamage, Specialist - Elections and Information Integrity, Hashtag Generation said that the majority of the Gen Zs are first-time voters since there had been no elections since 2020. “We have not observed their (Gen Zs) voting pattern before. They are more integrated with technology and media than any other generation. They are also the generation that was arguably affected most due to the crisis in Sri Lanka. Statistically there are almost 1 million new voters of whom a majority are Gen Z,” said Gamage. 

He opined that they are likely to be more open and receptive than holding on to traditional voting patterns of their families and communities. “Their ability to access information could be a decisive factor. Given the competitive nature of this election the behaviour of Gen Z voters can have a large impact on the final result,” he added. 

First-time voter expectations 

A social media survey conducted by the Daily Mirror requested first-time voters to share their expectations from the next leader. Their expectations from the next leader are shown above in the illustration.