The story of U18 began in 1996 in a Berlin youth club. Its aim was to awaken the political interest of children and young people. By engaging with political programmes and people in politics, participants learn to question campaign statements, formulate their own interests, find political answers and shape their environment. The U18 extracurricular political education programme is offered in almost all federal states.
Where offered, anyone under 18 can take part in the U18 election nine days before state and federal elections – and since 2014 also before European elections.
Strategy and communication consulting, development of campaigns and materials for the organisation of the U18 elections and public relations work were needed as well. The Berlin network also needed a user-friendly website to facilitate access to important information.
We have been advising and supporting the Berlin U18 network since 2005. We have rebranded the U18 logo, agreed to media cooperations, and successfully implemented various websites and multi-stage communication campaigns, including commercials, for the U18 elections, patronage of the Children’s Commission of the German Bundestag, press conferences, discussion events with politicians, and a postcard campaign to acquire Bundestag members as supporters. In general, many people from all parties spoke positively about U18, e.g. Dr Angela Merkel, then Chancellor and CDU Chairwoman, Dr Norbert Lammert, then President of the Bundestag and CDU Member of the Bundestag, Klaus Wowereit, then Governing Mayor of Berlin and Deputy SPD Chairman, Cem Özdemir, then Federal Chairman of Alliance 90/THE GREENS, Dr Gregor Gysi, then Chairman of the DIE LINKE parliamentary group.
The following figures make clear what U18 has already achieved: Despite the COVID-19 restrictions, U18 participation in the 2021 election increased by around 20% compared to the previous election. In Berlin alone, 47,614 people under the age of 18 cast their votes in 398 polling stations, which corresponds to almost 8% of all young people in the city. Nationwide, 261,210 young people took part in the election, which represents a significant increase in both polling stations and voter turnout and represents a new U18 election record.
A major success of U18 has been lowering the voting age so that young people aged 16 and over could also vote in the 2024 EU elections.
