El derecho a sufragio de los menores de edad: capacidad y edad electoral

Abstract

This article offers a brief conceptual framework for understanding the allocation of the right to vote in a democratic community. It explores one of the main reasons for setting the electoral age at 18 years. The article focuses on the popular argument that minors lack electoral capacity, critically analyzing the consistency with which rules on electoral capacity are applied, and exploring alternatives to the use of a minimum age restriction. It concludes that there are good reasons to believe that this age could be lowered 16 years, as the capacity of individuals is already clearly recognized by the legal system at that age. This may be a powerful argument in support of the hypothesis that a democracy attributes democratic rights as a consequence of the recognition of deliberative personality, on which the attribution of legal capacity associated with the legal subject is also based.