Wed, Nov 28, 2001 page3

• Dec. 1 elections: DPP presses for voting age to be cut by two years

  CALL FOR REFORM The DPP made the call at a ceremony for new voters yesterday. The party also said is was moving ahead with its vote-allocation strategy

  • CNA
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  The DPP said yesterday that it will continue to advocate lowering the age of suffrage to 18 from the current 20.

  DPP Secretary-General Wu Nai-jen (吳乃仁) made the statement in a "democracy adulthood ceremony" held for a group of college students who are 20 years old and are eligible to vote for the first time.

  Wu asked them to cherish their first voting experience and make wise decisions, stressing that the DPP is "the most popular party with young people, as well as the one that attaches the greatest importance to young people and provides the greatest opportunities for young people to take part in public affairs."

  Wu said that the DPP has long advocated lowering the voting age to 18, mainly because an 18-year-old has to shoulder full legal responsibility but must wait until 20 to vote, which he said is incompatible with their rights and obligations.

  Juan Chao-hsiung (阮昭雄), director of the DPP's Department of Youth Development, also stressed on the same occasion that the expansion of civil rights to more people is the progress of civilization, and that most industrial countries have set the voting age at 18.

  Meanwhile, a DPP official said that the party plans to ask its supporters to vote in a proportional way in four cities and counties -- Taipei and Kaohsiung cities, and Nantou and Tainan counties -- to ensure that the maximum number of the party's candidates will be elected in the hotly contested districts.

  Shen Fu-hsiung (沈富雄), director of the DPP's Policy Research and Coordinating Committee, said that the plan may only be working in the southern region of Taipei City, where the DPP has fielded five candidates for legislative seats.

  Shen and political professor Julian Kuo (郭正亮) are first and second in the area, according to recent polls.

  The DPP has used the "vote rationing" method, meaning that the DPP will designate supporters with certain numbers in their IDs or months of birth to cast their ballots for certain DPP candidates, but the method has been criticized as "an affront to the norm of democracy, and an insult to the judgment of the voters."

  Shen said that whether the rationing system will help in getting more DPP candidates elected will have to wait for a review after the elections.

  Shen stressed that the rationing system is highly risky, but once the decision was made to implement the system, it must be followed through.

  For your information

  Cutting the voting age

  * The DPP called for the voting age to be lowered to 18 from 20. * The party says the current voting age is inconsistent with the responsibility 18-year-olds must shoulder. * According to the DPP, most industrial countries have set the voting age at 18. * The DPP is the most popular party among the nation's young people, says Secretary-General Wu Nai-jen. * The party made its pitch before a group of students.
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