Part of 4. Questions to the Assembly Commission – in the Senedd at 3:38 pm on 11 March 2020.
Thank you for those two aspects of the question, relating to the two new aspects of the franchise that will be relevant to the elections next year. Of course, we have been preparing somewhat longer for the franchise to include 16 and 17-year-olds, assuming that that would be part of the legislation, and so our work certainly involves young people through the Youth Parliament, and through those partners who have collaborated with us in establishing the Youth Parliament, and who work directly with young people and with our work as a Commission in providing our support to schools in undertaking extra-curricular or outreach work to promote awareness among young people in Wales of democracy and the new right that they will have, and that work will intensify and continue in the months to come.
In terms of the second aspect of the question about the franchise expanding to include foreign nationals, of course, that's an aspect that's newer for us as a Commission, because it became part of the legislation during the scrutiny process, and so our hope is to work with the Government and the Electoral Commission to ensure that the citizens in Wales who have this new right to vote in the election next year will be aware of that. So, we will be, over the coming months, starting this important work to ensure that the Government and local authorities, of course, provide the correct information to people about their right to vote, bearing in mind, of course, that this has happened in time not just for the vote next year but importantly for the canvass this year to put people on the register for voting next year.