Give suffrage to young people as other countries do -- Akahata editorial, September 29 (excerpts)In Japan, two local governments are leading the effort to give 18- and 19-year olds the right to vote.
In Iwaki Town in Akita Prefecture, citizens 18 and older, including foreigners with permanent residence in Japan, went to the polls in a September 29 referendum to decide on the town's merger with another municipality.
Takahama City in Aichi Prefecture has revised the ordinance to allow citizens 18 and 19 to vote in regular referendums.
The movement calling for a right to vote for all citizens 18 and older is developing thanks to the efforts of the Democratic Youth League of Japan (DYLJ) and many other youth groups.
In the Diet, all parties including the Liberal Democratic Party have formed a group demanding that suffrage be given to people younger than 20.
In Japan at present, young people's future is affected by many serious problems such as environmental destruction, the adverse revision of social services, difficulty in finding jobs and the high unemployment rate, and national and local fiscal failures. It is increasingly important for young people to take part in politics.
By law, Japanese people aged 18 and 19 are adults under labor laws and have duty to pay taxes. But they do not have political rights.
Japan is far behind the international trend as far as the voting age is concerned. In 87 percent of all countries in the world, people 18 and over have voting rights.
The Koizumi government is reluctant to allow voting rights to 18- and 19-year-olds on the grounds that they may not have sufficient prudence and sense. Such an excuse is groundless because young people are required to take various social responsibilities under the law.
We should not tolerate Japan's continued lagging behind the international trend in the 21st century. The time is ripe for suffrage to be given to 18- and 19-year-olds so that the younger generation, as the major players of the future, can take full part in political activities. (end)