Survey: Most Young Slovaks Don't Plan to Vote in European Elections

Bratislava, 24 May (TASR) - Seventy-three percent of young people in Slovakia do not plan to vote in the upcoming European Parliament election, according to a survey conducted by the Focus agency for the Council of Slovak Youth (RmS). The survey, carried out in October last year on a sample of 1,036 respondents aged between 15 and 29, found that the most common reasons for not voting were uncertainty about whom to support, doubts over whether their vote would make a difference, and a lack of information. According to the survey, 37 percent of young people are interested in European politics. Half of the respondents said they had a relatively good amount of information about the European Union. "The information exists, but it is not communicated in a language that would engage young people, said Lucia Tkacova, a delegate of the European Youth Dialogue. The survey also showed that 89 percent of young people want the impact on them to be assessed with every new policy proposal. Meanwhile, 77 percent of respondents said they felt politicians were not interested in them. More than two-thirds of young people see Slovakia's EU membership as beneficial, although 55 percent believe the EU needs reform. When asked which emotion the EU most strongly evokes in them, respondents most frequently answered disappointment (23 percent), followed by "don't know" (21 percent), joy (18 percent) and indifference (15 percent). Fear and anger were in the minority, together accounting for less than 11 percent. According to the survey, 80 percent of young people believe democracy is the best system, but only 28 percent are satisfied with the state of democracy in Slovakia. mf/jrg