Between school desk and election campaign

For many, September means, in addition to late summer and the beginning of the autumn mood, that school starts again on 15 September. For three 18-year-old students, however, this Rentrée was particularly special. They are in the middle of an election campaign and their calendars are filled with political events. For Lucy Agostini (Pirates), Komal Morandini (Fokus) and Pierre Turquin (déi Lénk), a new chapter is just around the corner: they are running for the national elections on 8 October. Just before school started, we had a chat with them.

18 years old, first elections and own candidacy

All three of them show political commitment: the young people have been actively involved in their respective parties since this year. For Pierre Turquin (déi Lénk), as well as for Komal Morandini (Fokus), the legislative elections are the first elections for which they are standing. Lucy Agostini (Pirates), however, already stood for the municipal elections in June 2023. "Two months before the municipal elections, I joined the Pirate Party. Even though I didn't have much experience and I joined more out of curiosity and to fill the electoral list, I still became third Pirate in our municipality."

In the municipal elections, there were as many as twelve of the 3,847 candidates who were only 18 years old. Seven of them stood for the DP. Lucy Agostini's interest in politics developed especially over the last two years: "As we talked more about politics at school, I became more and more interested in it. I think it's a pity that politics is not really meant for schoolchildren. It is always presented as if it only concerns adults". However, this should not be the case. As to why she decided to join the Pirates, she replies: "I never said that I absolutely wanted to join a certain party, the Pirates' programme simply appealed to me the most."