Highland Candidates Sought for SYP Elections
Young people in Highland are being encouraged to get involved in active citizenship by either seeking election to the Scottish Youth Parliament or voting for the candidate of their choice.
Anyone aged between 14-25 is entitled to seek election in the three Highland SYP constituencies, which mirror those of the Scottish Parliament, namely Caithness Sutherland and Easter Ross; Ross Skye and Inverness West; and Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber. Voters can be aged between 12 -25.
Two candidates per constituency will be elected to the Scottish Youth Parliament to serve for two years.
The deadline for nominations is midnight on Friday 9 March. Candidates will be asked to write a manifesto on what they would intend to do as an MSYP for Highland, which will then be put onto the Young Scot website (http://www.youngscot.org/) for people to read.
Voting will take place on-line on the Young Scot web site from Monday 26 March until Friday 30 March. Each person who wants to vote will have one vote which will be cast using their High Life ~ Young Scot card number. Those interested in voting who don’t possess a card can be issued with a temporary number on request by contacting the High Life ~ Young Scot office – 01463 702067.
The process is being co-ordinated by the Youth Development Unit within The Highland Council’s Education Culture and Sport Service.
Pablo Mascarenhas, Principal Youth Development Officer, said: “We have been very active already at a Highland level in driving forward the active citizenship agenda with some notable successes. We are confident the young people will want to get involved and over the next few weeks we will be busy promoting the elections.
“Those six young people elected to the Scottish youth Parliament will attend approximately four weekend meetings a year of the Parliament supported by our Youth Development staff. As well as benefiting from a valuable educational experience on a personal level, our young Highland representatives will ensure that a Highland perspective is given to national developments.
More information about the parliament can be found at http://www.scottishyouthparliament.org.uk/.