New Zealand Moves to Lower Voting Age in Local Elections

New Zealand Moves to Lower Voting Age in Local Elections
A voter casts his ballot in the general election at a polling center in Auckland, New Zealand, on Nov. 26, 2011. Marty Melville/AFP via Getty Images
Rebecca Zhu
Updated:

New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced that his government won’t introduce legislation to lower the voting age for general elections to 16 following a Supreme Court decision in November 2022 that declared the current voting age to be “discriminatory.”

As part of his announcement for wide-ranging policy changes, Hipkins said that rather than pursuing legislation to lower the voting age in general elections, the government will focus on legislation to lower the voting age in local elections.