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YouthWiki

EACEA National Policies Platform
Slovenia

Slovenia

5. Participation

Last update: 28 November 2023

Young people in Slovenia feel they have very little political influence, and in comparison with the EU average tend to be much less interested or involved in politics. But there is a strengthened potential for protests and participation in individualised forms of political participation, particularly those related to information technology.

Among Slovenian youth (compared to EU youth) the only notably lower membership is in political parties which might be due to a low level of trust in political officials and institutions, low conventional participation and so forth.

The age limit for voting in all elections (European, national, local and presidential) and referendums is set at 18 years old. There are no plans at this time to lower the voting age limit, although there were some proposals. There is no data collection on youth electoral turnout before 2018. Young people can become members of political parties’ youth organisations at the age of 15.

The age limit on candidates running for office in Slovenia is 18 years old. There are no quotas or reserved seats for young candidates at any level.

The Public Interest in Youth Sector Act defines the Council of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia for Youth as a consulting body that will offer assistance in making decisions on matters pertaining to youth and the youth sector. The Council of the Government for Youth offers the possibility of giving the Government and the relevant ministries proposals, incentives and recommendations for implementing the commitment to strengthening the youth dimension in particular sectoral public policies.

There is no specific strategy for increasing youth participation. Until recently, youth participation in Slovenia was relatively unregulated by the law. The National Programme for Youth 2013‒2022 (Resolucija o Nacionalnem programu za mladino 2013–2022), covers all the important areas, so that there was no need for specific sectoral strategy. One of the key directions of the National Programme was to ensure the participation of young people in (for them) important public policies in all areas of society.  One of the objectives in the National Programme for Youth 2013‒2022 is ‘promoting the participation and representation of young women and men’ (6.2.1). Different authorities are responsible for the implementation of the measures within the Resolution of the National Programme for Youth 2013‒2022.

There is no policy measure focusing on promoting young people’s e-participation. There is also no act or strategy on this subject.