The FINANCIAL — Japan’s parliament passed a bill to lower the voting age from 20 to 18 on June 17, adding 2.4 million new voters to the nation’s current voting population of 104 million, according to Nasdaq.
The legislation will come into effect in time for next year’s upper house election. The passage of the bill follows a law passed last year lowering the voting age to 18 in 2018 for national referendums on the Constitution.
The last time Japan’s voting age was revised was in 1945, when the voting age was lowered from 25 to 20, and women were given the right to vote.
The new law puts Japan in line with nearly 90% of the world’s countries in setting the minimum voting age at 18.
It remains to be seen how the change will affect Japan’s elections and policies. Politicians have long courted older voters with generous pension benefits, ballooning the national debt as Japan rapidly ages.
But younger voters have stayed away from the polls in recent years. Less than 33% of those in their 20s exercised their right to vote in last year’s general election in December.
In contrast, voter turnout for those in their 60s and over 70 were 68% and 60%, respectively.
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