Many young South Africans are disillusioned by politics and corruption‚ and won't be voting in next week's local elections‚ a study released on Wednesday has revealed."Young people are growing increasingly frustrated with these issues that continue to plague South Africa‚" said Lauren Tracey‚ author of the study commissioned by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS)."Although they acknowledge the importance of voting‚ our findings show that young people often don't identify voting as the best way to bring about change."Titled "Do you want my vote? Understanding the factors that influence voting among young South Africans‚" the study's principal aim was to gain an insight into why voter registration among young people is the lowest of all age demographics in South Africa.In the 2014 national elections‚ registration levels for 18 and 19 year olds was just 33% – well below the 73% average.The new research provides a detailed picture of youth perceptions of politics and the factors that influence whether they participate in elections or not.Tracey conducted 49 one-on-one interviews and 277 focus-group discussions with over 2 000 students in high school‚ further education and training and university to understand what drives some young people to vote and discourages others.Her research findings highlight that this demographic group‚ in rural and urban areas across all nine provinces‚ is concerned about four major problems: unemployment‚ corruption‚ poor infrastructure and poor education.She noted that corruption is a major disincentive to voting."The participants said that politics is full of corruption and self-enrichment‚ and they see no reason why they should be interested in it‚ as they gain nothing from politics and voting."The irony is that this attitude prevails at a time when it appears young people's vote counts more than ever."There are signs that the ruling African National Congress' popularity is waning amongst young people and that this is a generation more open to changing their political allegiance than are their parents."According to the research‚ action taken in three areas could increase young people's participation in elections: improving civic and voter education programmes in schools; meaningful and dynamic outreach to the youth to raise awareness about politics and democracy; and using technology and social media better to link decision makers and political elites with young people...