Youth Election Tips Conservatives for Victory
Added: (Fri Apr 27 2001)
Pressbox (Press Release) -
The Labour government could be in for a close run race - or even defeat - on
June 7th if the results of a student-run election turn out to be a true indication of sentiments amongst young voters.
The Youth Election, staged by Bournemouth University student Jon Lloyd, resulted in a Conservative victory with nearly 40% of the vote. Labour came second after taking 37% of the poll sponsored by VirginStudent.com, followed by the Liberal Democrats with 23% from over 2,500 votes received. Even more surprising for the major parties was the fact that over 70% of voters were aged under 25. And the majority of votes cast - over 60% - were cast via the internet.
"Our main aim in organising this activity was to objectively view the election process from a young person's point of view - and put the buzz back into politics!", said Lloyd, a final year Television Production student at Bournemouth's Media School. "We filmed every aspect of the campaign to produce a programme which would examine the notion that young people are apathetic towards politics.
"There is a lot of talk around at the moment about apathy amongst young people towards politics, but I think we've proved that the under 25's can get very excited about the election process if you take the campaign directly to them and concentrate on issues related to their everyday lives," said Lloyd.
Candidates ranging in age from 17 -20 concentrated their campaigning in Cheshire and the Wirral, particularly targeting schools and colleges, supported by open debates and street-lead walkabouts. Candidates were encouraged to reflect their own views on certain issues in addition to representing their respective party's position. No direct advertising was used, although radio stations and newspapers proved helpful in publicising the poll.
"The North West may be a long way from Westminster, but we intentionally staged the election in this part of the country to achieve a more balanced result," said Lloyd who is originally from Chester. "By not staying in Bournemouth, which is quite a Conservative-Liberal Democrat stronghold, I think we got a better mix of opinion, not to mention a more telling result."
Editor's Note: Voting for the Youth Election took place over 8 days with options for the electorate to mark their ballots in person, at various polling stations in the region, or via the internet nationally.