The Legislative Yuan’s Internal Administration Committee yesterday passed an initial review of draft amendments that would lower the voting age from 20 to 18.
The revisions to the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) and the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act (總統副總統選舉罷免法) would also allow citizens aged 18 or older to sign petitions endorsing presidential and vice presidential candidates.
Article 130 of the Constitution states that citizens must be at least 20 years of age to vote, meaning that the amendments might require a constitutional interpretation.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
The committee therefore adopted a supplementary resolution urging the legislature’s Constitutional Amendment Committee to simultaneously review the constitutional amendment.
The high threshold for passing constitutional amendments has hindered efforts to lower the voting age in the past.
Lowering the voting age to 18 is a global trend with cross-partisan support in the legislature, the resolution said.
Since the drafting of the Constitution, the Civil Code has been amended to lower the age of adulthood from 20 to 18, although voting rights have yet to follow suit.
The move follows a failed 2022 constitutional referendum on the same issue, when despite support from major political parties, the proposal fell short of the threshold needed to pass.
The Constitution also sets 23 as the minimum age to be elected to public office.
Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) yesterday addressed the Internal Administration Committee on the matter.
As of the end of February, Taiwan had 411,731 citizens aged 18 or 19, she said.
If the voting age were lowered, 70 percent of new voters would be registered in the six special municipalities, Liu said.
The changes could raise concerns over the next election cycle, she said, adding that the issue could not be resolved by an administrative interpretation alone, but might ultimately require judicial clarification.
The Executive Yuan is not the authoritative body on constitutional interpretations, she added.
The amendments would increase the voting population by an estimated 410,000 people, Central Election Commission Department of Electoral Affairs Director Wang Hsiao-lin (王曉麟) said.
It would involve considerable extra work to prepare polling stations and voter rolls before the local elections on Nov. 28, he said.
If the amendments are not passed before the election notice on Aug. 20, the old system would remain in place, Wang said.
The draft amendments must first undergo party caucus negotiations before being submitted to the plenary session for discussion.
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