More than 60% of young people, namely 63,2%, do not want to vote in the upcoming presidential elections, according to a survey conducted by the Cyprus Institute of Statistics as part of its activities between March 13-15, 2017 with the intention of young people to vote in the 2018 elections.
According to a relevant announcement of KIS, the research that was carried out concerned young people aged 18-35 and covered the whole territory with a sample size of 706 people and the sample was determined by the method of simple random stratified sampling.
According to the president of K.IS. Chrysanthos Savvidis, the collection of information was done through telephone interviews. The evaluation of the research results was done by the method of point estimation.
As it has been said, the main object of the research was to investigate the intention of young people to vote in the upcoming presidential elections.
The result of the survey was extremely discouraging and disappointing, adds Chrysanthos Savvidis, because 63.2% of young people do not want to vote. That's a very high percentage if one considers that 6 out of 10 young people have no intention of voting, he said.
A second important finding of the research, he said, is that the highest rate of abstention among young people comes from urban areas and reaches 69%.
The explanation given (through supplementary questions), he notes, is that young people do not trust parties, politicians do not tell the truth, no one cares about them finding a job, and no one gives a step to young people.
Regarding the abstention rates per city, it is reported that in Nicosia 62% will not vote, in Limassol 68%, in Larnaca 64%, in Paphos 62% and in free Famagusta 60%.
The third important finding, he says, is that 71% of young people who will not vote hold an undergraduate or postgraduate degree, a really high percentage for a small country like Cyprus.
When asked what parties should do to persuade young people to vote in the upcoming presidential election, 21% said they should address youth issues, 19% say they should have a young presidential candidate, and 18% say they should apply meritocracy in public service. , 16% to communicate with young people and another 16% said to give them a step and a 10% said to give priority to the solution of the Cyprus problem.
A fifth finding is that young people are divided over employment prospects, with 47% saying the prospects have improved, 45% saying they have gotten worse and 8% saying they have remained the same.
Asked if they believe that after the 2018 elections the conditions for youth problems will change, 72% said they will remain the same, 13% believe that they will get worse and 15% will improve.
Source: KYPE