<p>Compulsory Voting</p>

Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:59 pm on 13 June 2017.

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Photo of Carwyn Jones Carwyn Jones Labour 1:59, 13 June 2017

We will consider that. I have to say I sometimes consider compulsory voting to be a form of cop-out for politicians. It’s all our responsibility, collectively, to increase turnout. We’ll never get—. They don’t even get to 100 per cent in the countries where there’s compulsory voting. What I saw on Thursday was a huge increase in the numbers of young people voting. At 10 o’clock on the Thursday morning, I could see that something unusual was happening in terms of the turnout. So, from my perspective, it was marvellous to see young people coming out to vote in the numbers that they did. I hope that continues in the future, because it was never good for society for a view to take hold that older people vote and younger people don’t. I’m glad that younger people have found their voice.