POLITICAL PARTICIPATION

The participation of young people in the political life of their communities shows the extent to which they are empowered and engaged in the political process and have a voice in the determination of the future of their communities. Participation promotes social integration, combats exclusion, promotes youth development, and – by giving young people a stake in their society – creates bonds between generations. One of the most important political processes that require youth participation is the election processes. Political participation can also be in the form of engagement in the planning of one’s city; the success of the Women and Youth Participation in Urban Planning training “You Are Here” that was held in Riyadh in November 2017, demonstrated both the desire of the youth to be engaged, and their capacity to provide relevant experience and data to a planning process especially by using interactive tools such as Minecraft.47

The CPI Youth Survey findings shows that more than half of youth (on average of 57.7%) are not aware of any past elections that took place within their city, municipality or region. Also, only 14.8% of the youths on average have participated in the past regional Municipal election. Among them, 30.6% did not participate because they were still under the voting limit age, while 54.6% did not participate despite having reach the voting age, even if aware of the voting process.