Lawmakers across party lines yesterday voted to approve a constitutional amendment to lower the voting age from 20 to 18, clearing the amendment’s path to a referendum later this year.
The proposed bill was put to a vote on the legislative floor yesterday afternoon as dozens of high-school students and representatives of non-governmental organizations mobilized outside the Legislative Yuan building in Taipei to express their support for the amendment.
The final vote was 109-0, surpassing the minimum 82 “yes” votes required for the bill to clear the legislature.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
The result was a victory for student and civic groups, many of which have spent years trying to bring Taiwan’s voting age in line with most other democratic countries.
Constitutional amendments must first clear the legislature with the approval of at least three-quarters of lawmakers present at a meeting attended by a minimum of three-quarters of all lawmakers, according to the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China (中華民國憲法增修條文).
Once an amendment is approved by the Legislative Yuan, it must be voted on in a national referendum. It passes if half of all eligible voters cast ballots in its favor.
Photo: CNA
Civil society groups had expressed hope that the bill would clear the legislature yesterday so it could be voted on in a referendum on the same day as local elections in November, as nationwide elections are more likely to attract a higher voter turnout.
The bill to grant Taiwanese aged 18 or older the right to vote was cosponsored by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the Taiwan People’s Party and the New Power Party.
Previously, supporters of the amendment expressed concern that the bill might not pass the legislature because the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) had not committed itself to voting in favor of the amendment, although it had expressed support for lowering the voting age.
Based on the distribution of seats in the 113-seat legislature, where the DPP has 61 seats and the KMT has 39 seats, the bill could only clear the body with the support of both parties.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique