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Major parties rally in support of lower voting age
The island's main political parties are rallying in support of lowering Taiwan's voting age from 20 to 18 via a constitutional amendment. A proposed constitutional amendment to lower the voting age to 18 cleared the legislature in March.
However, the voting age will only be lowered if the number of votes in favour of the motion surpasses 9.65 million in a national referendum on the motion, which will be held in conjunction with the 26 November local elections.
President Tsai Ing-wen is calling on the DPP to campaign for the passage of the referendum - saying the party's candidates in the local elections should urge their supporters to cast their vote favouring passage of the referendum during their own election campaigns.
KMT Chairman Eric Chu is also expressing similar views, saying that setting the voting age at 18 is "a global trend" and passage of the referendum will "mark an important milestone" in enabling more young people in Taiwan to take part in politics while both the Taiwan People's Party and New Power Party have also launched campaigns to call for support of the passage of the referendum.
