The ruling and opposition parties on Tuesday jointly submitted a bill to the Lower House to lower the age from which people can vote in a referendum to 18, a step forward in achieving Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's long-held goal of revising the Constitution.
The current referendum law was enacted in 2007 under Abe's first government to rectify a situation where there is no detailed process to hold a national referendum.
Under the bill submitted by a total of seven parties, the voting age involving a referendum to revise the Constitution will be lowered to 18 from the current 20 four years after the revised law takes effect.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.