Assembly Presiding Officer to meet young people in North Wales as part of final push to get Vote 2011 message across
The National Assembly for Wales’s Presiding Officer, Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas AM, will spend the day in Bangor on Friday (28 January) in a final push to encourage people to get out and vote this year.
First he will meet with first time voters from Ysgol Tryfan, Bangor, on the Assembly’s outreach bus, in High Street, Bangor, on Friday afternoon.
That will be followed by a question and answer session with students from Bangor University at the university’s main arts building.
“It’s a very important year for us all next year,” said Presiding Officer, Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas AM.
“We are going to be asked to not only choose who represents us in the Senedd but also whether those elected representatives should have more powers to make Welsh laws.
“My message is a very simple one, it’s your National Assembly for Wales, so please have your say.”
The two events form part of a wider campaign, by the National Assembly for Wales, to provide objective non-partisan information to Welsh voters about the three votes they face at the ballot box this year:
“I’m really looking forward to participating in the session on board the National Assembly for Wales Bus on Friday,” said Catrin Tomos, 18 old, Ysgol Tryfan, Bangor.
“It will no doubt be a great opportunity for us to gain further information about the voting system, especially considering the fact that the majority of us will be voting for the first time this year.’’
Sharyn Williams, Vice-President Bangor University Students’ Union, added: “Bangor Students’ Union is extremely pleased that Lord Elis-Thomas and the Assembly will be here engaging with our members and answering their questions.
“It’s clear through the events of the past year that students are more than interested in affairs that affect them and others around them.
“It’s extremely important that young people and students are encouraged to stay engaged with politics and democracy, as their voice is just as important as anyone else’s.
“The Students’ Union hopes our members will take this opportunity to learn more about devolution, Wales’ governance and how it has worked for them.”
2011 is a year when:
- A referendum will be held on 3 March to ask whether the National Assembly should have further law-making powers;
- On 5 May, there will be the National Assembly election to decide who should represent us in the Senedd in Cardiff Bay.
- On the same day as the Assembly elections, we’ll be asked whether we should elect our MPs at Westminster through a different system of voting.
As part of the drive to inform, the Assembly is running an online publicity campaign which targets the 18-35 age group through the media platforms this age group uses.
So for example, every young person in Wales, with a Facebook or Hotmail account will see the Vote 2011 ad spot when they sign into their account.
It’s based on the idea that voting is a part of everyday life, using questions such as ‘Strictly or X Factor?’, ‘iPhone or BlackBerry?’ and the slogan ‘voting’s easy, you do it every day’ to generate a call to action.