First Choice

What happens when you let 150 critical last year students fire all their questions at three politicians? Host Tom Waes and political journalist Pieterjan De Smedt find out. They’re investigating how young people will be voting for the first time on June 9th. What keeps the more than half a million Flemish first-time voters — young people between 16 and 22 — awake at night? Each of the five episodes covers a different topic. The politicians are sent by Tom and Pieterjan to the lion’s den, where the youngsters are waiting for them with pressing questions. They must know how to stand their ground and convince these young people of their views, of their political party. While Tom engages with the students in various classes and gets to know some final-year students with unique stories, Pieterjan assesses the students’ political knowledge. At the end of the week, they challenge three top politicians who face dozens of questions directly from the students. This unique setting, where young people and politicians interact directly, represents a new way of political programming. The purpose of the programme is to inform and prepare young people for their first-time voting. What better way to do this than by getting answers from firsthand experience?