The elections are open and four candidates from North Herts and Stevenage are hoping to win support to represent the district in the Youth Parliament.
Corey Adefiranye-Edmonds, 17, from Codicote, will be standing for Stevenage, while Morgan Sykes, 15, from Baldock, Alex Hilder Jarvis, 14, from Blackmore End and Monica Yianni, 16, from Ashwell will all be competing for votes for the North Herts seat.
Corey, who studies business at Oaklands College, said: “I decided to get involved after a visit to the One Stop Shop in Stevenage. I was talking about the work I do as vice-president at college and the lady said I should run for Youth Parliament.
“There was a young homeless guy in the shop at the time and I thought top of my agenda would be youth homelessness.
“I really want to make a difference. I think we need to tackle transport issues as they are making cuts to services, when they should be improving public transport.
“I also want to introduce a strong work experience programme.”
Corey says many of his friends find politics boring and don’t understand what provoked his interest.
But despite his political enthusiasm, Corey wishes to pursue a career in business. He said: “I want to be a chief executive of a big company.”
The elected MYPs – Members of Youth Parliament – will work alongside MPs and councillors to ensure young people’s needs are being met. They will also work towards creating the Herts Young People’s Manifesto.
Young people aged 11-18 who live, work or are educated in Hertfordshire are eligible to vote and can view the candidates’ manifestos and vote via the ChannelMOGO website.
Voting will run from now until February 13.
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