MANILA -- As elections approach, politicians remember the importance of being on good terms with the youth. Young people are easily motivated and are inexpensive workers in political campaigns. The young generation also constitutes a sizable electoral constituency.
"Win the votes of the under 30-year-olds, and victory is on your side," says a politician in the Philippines, as he prepares to run for office in the country's general elections next May.
In electoral contests throughout the world, a youthful image has become a strategic imperative. The preferences of the young generation play an increasingly important role in the laboratories of political campaign managers. At the same time, the interests of the youth often play only a secondary role in the world of realpolitik.