Press Release
25th October 2012
Nominations open for Scottish Youth Parliament elections
The Scottish Youth Parliament has formally opened nominations for election to the Scottish Youth Parliament. Any young person aged 14 to 25 is eligible to stand for election to SYP as long as they live in Scotland and have a passion for democracy. The elections are conducted in partnership with Local Authorities across Scotland, and the nomination period is from 10 October to 7 December. Elections will be held in March 2013.
In the last SYP elections in 2011 more than 85,000 votes were cast for candidates. For the 2013 election SYP hope to engage over 100,000 young people in the election.
Emily Shaw, MSYP for Shetland, says: “The Scottish Youth Parliament is a fantastic organisation which has achieved so much on behalf of the young people of Scotland. I have grown so much during my time as an MSYP and have loved every second of representing Shetland. I am looking forward to watching the progress of the next members and would urge anyone considering to stand to do so - it is the most amazing opportunity!”
Grant Costello MSYP, Chair of the Scottish Youth Parliament, says: “There has never been a better time to be a Member of the Scottish Youth Parliament. In the last two years we have run an award-winning campaign for Equal Marriage, and we’ve campaigned for votes at 16 and a Scottish Living Wage. At a time where more and more people are recognising 16-year-olds should have their say on national events, SYP gives them the chance to campaign to make a real difference in Scotland. Last time we managed to get 85,000 votes in our election, one of the largest political engagements of young people in Scotland ever. This time we hope to engage 100,000 young people, giving SYP an even bigger mandate to continue to argue on behalf of the issues young Scots really care about.”
For more information about the SYP Elections and to register as a candidate check out www.syp.org.uk/elections
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