Legislative Yuan to Review 18-Year-Old Citizen Rights Amendment Tomorrow; Youth Groups Call for Cross-Party Support

The Legislative Yuan's Internal Administration Committee is scheduled to review amendments to the "Public Officials Election and Recall Act" and the "President and Vice President Election and Recall Act" on the 8th, concerning the implementation of 18-year-old citizen rights. Youth groups, including the Taiwan Alliance for Advancement of Youth Rights and Welfare, Taiwan Youth Generational Co-prosperity Association, Taiwan Youth Association for Democracy, Taiwan Youth Ideology Association, National Students' Union of Taiwan, and Taiwan One Drop of Education Association, held a press conference at the Legislative Yuan this morning.

Chang Yu-chia, Secretary-General of the Taiwan Alliance for Advancement of Youth Rights and Welfare, stated that since 2005, civil groups have collaborated to promote lowering the voting age. From nearly 80% public disapproval 20 years ago, to achieving 53% approval in the 2022 constitutional amendment referendum, and then to the Legislative Yuan's consensus late last year to include "guaranteeing 18-year-old citizen rights" in the "Youth Basic Act," the effort has now progressed to amending relevant articles.

Chang Yu-meng, Chairman of the Taiwan Youth Generational Co-prosperity Association, pointed out that a constitutional amendment for "18-year-old citizen rights" was conducted in 2022. Although it garnered nearly 60% approval, it ultimately failed due to the high institutional threshold for constitutional amendments. This indicates that the problem lies not with public opinion but with the threshold. Therefore, discussions in the Legislative Yuan did not cease after the referendum. DPP Legislator Chung Chia-pin convened a public hearing, inviting legal experts to clarify that the constitution does not explicitly fix the voting age at 20, but rather concretizes the electoral system through law.

Yang Tzu-ying, Chairman of the Taiwan Youth Association for Democracy, said that with the passage of the "Youth Basic Act" last year, legislators from both ruling and opposition parties expressed support for 18-year-old citizen rights and proposed amendments to the election and recall laws. Only the executive branch had differing opinions on whether a constitutional amendment was necessary and how to amend the law, which is currently under study. Therefore, tomorrow's interpellation in the Internal Administration Committee is crucial, and it is hoped that based on existing consensus, progress can be made and the amendments can be steadily passed.

Regarding whether direct legislative amendment to implement 18-year-old citizen rights is unconstitutional, Tsai Ching-hung, co-founder of the Taiwan Youth Ideology Association, noted that the current mainstream and stable view in public law academia tends to believe there is room for constitutional interpretation, suggesting that "amendment by law is sufficient." Last year, judicial precedents also emerged supporting legislative amendment.

Chen Yu-jen, Chairman of the National Students' Union of Taiwan, stated that the age of majority in Taiwan's Civil Code and Criminal Code is already set at 18. With changing times, the mental maturity of 18-year-olds has surpassed that of the past. This is also an international consensus, with many countries having lowered both the age of majority and voting age to 18.

Tsai Chi-yeh, Chairman of the Taiwan One Drop of Education Association, pointed out that the Youth Basic Act requires "completing relevant legal systems within 2 years," meaning the Legislative Yuan must complete the relevant legal systems by the 2028 presidential election at the latest. Youth groups respect the Legislative Yuan's review process, but if it can be completed earlier under feasible election administration conditions, allowing more young people to exercise their citizen rights sooner, youth groups would welcome it. (Editor: Wan Shu-chang) 1150407