Young people are keen to exercise their democratic rights

Sam Younger

That figure slumped to 39% among younger voters.

Now the "phenomenal" number of votes for the Pop Idol final last Saturday is the inspiration for a campaign launched outside the House of Commons by the Electoral Commission.

A commission spokesman said that the programme was proof that young voters still enjoyed influencing decisions providing they were approached in an "appropriate and engaging manner".

England's 18 to 24-year-olds will be targeted with messages like 'Votes are Power' and 'Who Controls Who? via the internet, mobile phone text messaging and traditional advertising in the run-up to the local elections on 2 May.

That will run alongside an advertising campaign in the national press which will use the slogan 'Votes Are Power' which depicts a hand manipulating a puppet politician.

According to research complied by Mori, 90% of young people profess an interest in politics with just 10% owning up to voter apathy.

Electoral Commission Chairman Sam Younger said: "In response to last year's election turnout we immediately set out to improve the voting process.

Local election hope

"There are new registration and postal voting procedures in place and other methods such as SMS (text messaging) and electronic voting will be trialled this May during the local elections.

"Young people are keen to exercise their democratic rights.

"The 'Votes Are Power' campaign aims to build on this and to encourage people to realise their potential to make a difference."

A total of 8.7 million phone votes were registered in the Pop Idols final on Saturday and more than 13 million people tuned in to watch Will Young narrowly beat Gareth Gates.