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Japan lowers voting age to 18

These young people are expected to cast their first votes in the upper house election scheduled for summer 2016

AFPPTI Tokyo
Last Updated : Jun 17 2015 | 11:14 AM IST
Japan passed legislation to lower the voting age to 18 from its current 20 today, allowing teenagers into polling booths for the first time.

The move will bring Japan - where political power resides firmly with the burgeoning older generations - into line with other developed countries and will extend the franchise to an extra 2.4 million 18- and 19-year-olds.

These young people are expected to cast their first votes in the upper house election scheduled for summer 2016, unless the lower house is dissolved for a snap election before then.

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The bill to revise the public office election law passed the upper house after being approved in the lower chamber.

Japan last changed its voting rules in the punch-drunk months after its 1945 surrender in World War II, altering the age at which citizens could cast their ballot from 25 to 20.

Around a quarter of Japan's 127-million population is aged 65 or over, a result of low birth rates over the last few decades and no significant immigration. The proportion is expected to grow to around 40 per cent in a few decades.

The inverted age pyramid that this represents - combined with a Confucian respect for elders - has left Japan a country primarily run by, and for the benefit of, old people.

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First Published: Jun 17 2015 | 10:42 AM IST

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