The legislature’s Constitutional Amendment Committee yesterday reviewed draft proposals calling for a voting age of 18. Outside the Legislative Yuan complex in Taipei, social groups accused the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) of hijacking the voting age amendment draft by tying it to such draft proposals as absentee voting and the legislature’s power to approve the premiership. The committee’s second review yesterday fiercely debated proposals to lower the voting age. Whether the voting age should be lowered to 18 was not the stumbling block, but the procedure for reviewing amendment proposals and whether the committee should first achieve resolutions over the issue blocked progress.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers said the nature of the disputes showed that the KMT was not inclined toward lowering the voting age.
Meanwhile, high-school students and representatives from groups such as the Taiwan Alliance for Youth Rights, Taiwan Congress Watch and Taiwan Association for Human Rights gathered outside, accusing the KMT of taking voting age reform hostage and calling on DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) to “rescue the hostage.”
Full Article: Voting age reform said to be ‘held hostage’ by KMT – Taipei Times.