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1. Young people as voters

2. Young people as political representatives

Young people as voters

The minimum voting age is 18 years old, for either local, national, or European elections. This minimum age is also applied to referendums.

Young citizens displaced for work, students, researchers or scholarship students may resort to early voting, when they are not able to exercise the right to vote in the respective Assembly, according to Organic Law no. 3/2010. Young people who are abroad under an exchange programme may also vote early. The National Election Commissionclarifies several issues about early voting.

In Portugal, there is a perception that youth participation in politics is low.

A study by Universidade Católica do Porto (2023) found that 81.8% of young Portuguese voters participated in legislative elections, 79.1% in local elections, and 76.6% in presidential elections. However, only 17.5% of those young voters are affiliated with political parties, indicating a significant gap between voting behaviour and party membership. Additionally, Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos (2021) reported that 14% of Portuguese youth have never voted, while 53% vote consistently. This suggests a mixed level of engagement, with some youth actively participating and others remaining disengaged due to dissatisfaction with the political system.

Young people as political representatives

Formally, there is no differentiation between young people and other voters regarding their passive electoral capacity. As for the Presidential elections, the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic states that only voters of Portuguese origin, aged over 35, are eligible to run as Presidential candidates (Article 122 of the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic). For all other Elective functions, the Constitution states that Portuguese citizens and voters are eligible, without prejudice to the restrictions established by electoral law, due to local incompatibilities or the  exercise of certain functions, which means that the minimum age to be a candidate is 18. There  are no quotas for young people or any special provisions regarding young people as candidates.

Still, as stated above, youth intervention in society and the exercise of citizenship  results in an active transformation of their integration, through movements such as youth associations and volunteering, where tangible actions with concrete results seem to be gaining momentum, that is, the need to act and see an immediate or concrete consequence of that action, out of the direct political representation context. For example, youth associations’ movement in Portugal comprises more than 1,400 active youth federations or associations. According to the Law of Youth Associations (Law no. 57/2019, of 7 August, Article 3(2), youth political parties are considered as youth associations, respecting specific legislation about political parties.