16 and 17-year-olds given voting rights in Sark

16 and 17-year-olds in Sark have been given the right to vote in the island's future elections.

The voting age has been lowered from 18, in the hope it may encourage more voters and political candidates to come forward.

It means all 16 and 17-year-olds across the bailiwick are now able to vote - after Guernsey made the change in 2007, followed by Alderney in September 2022.

Sark's residency criteria to get onto the electoral roll is also being relaxed, allowing people returning to the island to stand for election as long as they lived there for at least two years at some point since they turned 13.

Islanders will go to the polls on Wednesday 14 December to vote for new members of Chief Pleas, Sark's government.