Increasing Political Activity

The meeting involved Dr Svetlana Ostrikova, Vice-Rector for Education and Youth Affairs, and Igor Lazarev and Vladimir Troyan, Chair and Deputy Chair of the Regional Electoral Commission. The members of three student organisations were ready to put forward possible solutions. 'Perspective' is a group of students interested in the political life of the University, and are active in student life. 'Acme' is a group more concerned with youth politics and policy at the national level. The last of the groups was the Young Political Scientists, a club based on students within the faculty. The meeting was organised and hosted by Perspective, and their leader, Victoria Kutko, chaired the meeting.

Dr Ostrikova was first to speak. She expressed her enthusiasm for young people voting, hoping that the increase in social activity and voluntary work would lead to increased attendance at the ballot box. She saw positive signs in the participation of students in the work of the Municipal and Regional Electoral Commissions, and in the Election Observation Corps. She also said that she thought the law had a role to play in creating a national policy on youth issues.

Then the panel heard from the students. Anastasia Krajnyukova spoke about the work of Electoral Commissions with libraries on the legal education of young and future voters. Maria Pedko noted the important role of e-voting in increasing the activity of young voters. Anastasia Bondarenko reported on the impact of socio-political advertising on turnout among the young. Irina Khmelevskaya focused her attention on the role of the Election Observation Corps.