Social media campaign to promote youth vote

The Election Commission of Sri Lanka (ECSL) together with the International Federation for Electoral Systems (IFES) will be conducting a seven-day national social media campaign next week, parallel to the International Youth Day 2016 which falls on 12 August.

The campaign called #YouthVoteSL will be held from 5-12 August island-wide with the participation of the youth led organisations, networks, and societies.

According to a UNDP study, although 23% of Sri Lanka’s population is youth between 15 - 29 years of age, and 71.5% of them exercise their right to vote, though  only a small fraction is directly engaged in politics through activism within political parties and trade unions.

Furthermore, the fact that nearly 18%  of youth do not exercise their voting rights and/or participate in any political activity is a cause for concern.

According to the Election Commission Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya, the primary objective of the campaign is to encourage all organisations, networks, and societies to engage in creating public awareness through creative and innovative ways, about the importance of youth civic engagement.

Recently the ECSL invited the representatives from over 40 youth led organisations ranging from Youth Federation Clubs of Sri Lanka to the Rotary Clubs for a briefing about the project and how to win prizes for the best campaign.