Taiwan legislative committee clears bill lowering voting age to 18

Taipei, May 7 (CNA) A legislative committee on Thursday approved draft amendments to lower Taiwan's voting age from 20 to 18, while urging the Legislature's Constitutional Amendment Committee to begin a formal constitutional revision process.

The Internal Administration Committee cleared amendments to the Public Officials Election and Recall Act and the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act.

Other than granting voting rights to 18-year-olds, the revised bills would also allow citizens aged 18 and above to sign petitions endorsing presidential and vice presidential candidates.

While lawmakers across party lines have expressed support for lowering the voting age to align Taiwan with international practice, the proposal faces a constitutional hurdle, as Article 130 of the Republic of China Constitution stipulates that citizens must be at least 20 years old to vote.

Following constitutional amendments in 2005, any formal revision to the Constitution has to be passed by three quarters of the Legislative Yuan and ratified by a national referendum in which the revision is supported by over half of eligible voters.

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.

To address this, the committee passed a supplementary resolution calling for the Constitutional Amendment Committee to work in tandem with statutory changes.

According to Interior Minister Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳), there were 411,731 citizens between the ages of 18 and 20 in Taiwan as of the end of February, with around 70 percent residing in the country's six special municipalities.

Wang Hsiao-lin (王曉麟), director of the Central Election Commission's Department of Electoral Affairs, said lowering the voting age would add an estimated 410,000 eligible voters and affect election operations such as polling station arrangements and voter registry preparation.

Wang noted that this year's elections are scheduled for Nov. 28, with the official election notice to be issued on Aug. 20. If the amendments are passed after that date, the current voting age threshold of 20 would still apply to this year's elections.

Under the approved amendments, the implementation date would be determined by the Executive Yuan.

Internal Administration Committee convener Liao Hsien-hsiang (廖先翔) of the Kuomintang (KMT) said the bills would now proceed to cross-party negotiations before being sent to the legislative floor for further review.