A YOUNG Andover politician has been re-elected to the position of Member of Youth Parliament.

Dmitrijs Meiksans, 16, has been elected for a second time to represent the constituency of North West Hampshire.

“It is an utter honour to have been elected by my constituents back into office - it has been a whirlwind for the last 3 years, but I am ecstatic to see what I continue to achieve throughout my next two years,” Dmitrijs said.

“I am committed to continue upholding young people’s voices to those in power, as well as ensuring that young people’s mental health provision is at the top of their agenda, and enabling young people to become members of society ready to make a positive change to their local communities, backed by volunteering opportunities and work experience placements they were given in secondary school.”

County-wide, Hampshire County Council received an impressive 43 applications from young people to fill a total of 12 seats across Hampshire county.

They are made up of six Member of Youth Parliament positions, and six Support Member of Youth Parliament seats.

The elections were held from November 8 to December 6. A total of 6,150 votes were cast across the county, with a turnout of 20 per cent from the 29,864 unique URLs.

A student of Harrow Way Community School in Andover, Dmitrijs has held the role for the past three years, after Hampshire County Council extended the original two-year term by a year, due to the impacts of the Coronavirus pandemic.

He will now continue to serve in post until March 2024.

Dmitrijs said that he will stand down at the end of his second term.

“Not only by then will I have reached the grand age of 18, so therefore I wouldn’t be an eligible candidate for the Youth Parliament elections anymore, but I think at that point it will be important for another young person to take this constituency and the young people within it, in perhaps a different direction,” Dmitrijs said.