HoR lowering the age of candidates eligible to become President

In its session yesterday, the House of Representatives (HoR) reduced the minimum age for candidates running for the presidential elections from 40 to 35 years old. The amendment to the presidential election law was passed by ‘‘a majority of those present’’, HoR Official Spokesperson Abdalla Belheeg reported.

The rational was to allow and encourage younger candidates to run in the elections.

In the same session the HoR approved the Electronic Transactions Law, again by ‘‘a majority of those present’’.

‘There is no scientific evidence to suggest someone is more emotionally mature at 35 than at 30, and no guarantee that as people age, they will earn more life, or political, experience’.

The age of candidacy for all types of elections is on the political agenda in many countries. In the US, there has been a long-standing campaign to have the minimum age of candidacy for elections reduced to 18 and standardised across all states. The UK Electoral Commission initiated a consultation in 2003 on the age of candidacy for parliamentary elections which led to a change in the law in 2006 when the candidate age dropped from 21 to 18.