Discussion of the candidates for the 10^th Youth Parliament

In 2020, due to the spread of the COVID‑19 pandemic, the 10^th Youth Parliament was suspended until further notice. Since the project activities still cannot take place in the Saeima building, an online discussion was organised for the 10^th Youth Parliament candidates on 12 April.

As voting for the already submitted ideas was suspended due to the spread of the pandemic and the eligibility for participation in the project is limited to young people from 15 to 20 years of age, the results of the previous election to the 10^th Youth Parliament will be annulled. Epidemiological situation permitting, a new election to the 10^th Youth Parliament will be announced next year and all candidates in the relevant age group will be able to participate.

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On 12 April, candidates for the 10^th Youth Parliament participated in an online discussion dedicated to topical issues of importance for young people, like remote education and media literacy.

Ināra Mūrniece, Speaker of the Saeima, Artuss Kaimiņš, Chair of the Human Rights and Public Affairs Committee, and Arvils Ašeradens, Chair of the Education, Culture and Science Committee, gave opening addresses at the event.

In the first part, dedicated to media literacy, Mārtiņš Hiršs, Research Associate of the European Policy Analysis Center (CEPA), led a discussion about critical thinking on the internet, whereas Beata Jonite, a diplomacy master’s student at the University of Oxford, talked about the role of social media and the content created by influencers.

In the second part of the discussion, MP Reinis Znotiņš, Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Science, examined the impact of remote learning on education, and Nils Sakss Konstantinovs, Head of the Teenage and Youth Psychotherapy Center, spoke about emotional wellbeing. The discussion was moderated by Anete Biķe, ambassador of the Youth Parliament.

In 2020, due to the spread of the COVID‑19 pandemic, the 10^th Youth Parliament was suspended until further notice. Since the project activities still cannot take place in the Saeima building, an online discussion was organised for the 10^th Youth Parliament candidates. To ensure that the discussion would cover broader topics and relevant issues for young people, project participants helped select discussion topics and experts.

The online discussion took place on Zoom, and it was streamed on the Saeima website, as well as the Facebook profiles of the Saeima and the Youth Parliament.

As voting for the already submitted ideas was suspended due to the spread of the pandemic and the eligibility for participation in the project is limited to young people from 15 to 20 years of age, the results of the previous election to the 10^th Youth Parliament will be annulled. Epidemiological situation permitting, a new election to the 10^th Youth Parliament will be announced next year and all candidates in the relevant age group will be able to participate.

The Youth Parliament is a project of the Latvian Parliament that provides young people with an opportunity to present and defend their ideas, while learning about the everyday life of MPs. Young people aged 15‑20 from across Latvia and abroad may participate in the project by submitting their ideas and participating in online elections on the platform www.jauniesusaeima.lv.

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