LDP mulling lowering minimum ages to run for office

February 19, 2018

Tokyo- Some Liberal Democratic Party members have proposed lowering the minimum ages to run for public office in Japan to a uniform 20, it was learned Sunday.

The ruling party hopes that the measure would help spark interest in politics among young people and expand voter support for the party, LDP sources said.

Under the public offices election law, voters must be at least 25 years old to run for the House of Representatives, the local government assemblies and mayoralty at the city and other municipal governments.

The minimum age is set at 30 for election to the House of Councillors and governorship at the prefectural governments.

The LDP's Headquarters for Party and Political System Reform Implementation, chaired by Yasuhisa Shiozaki, will hold full discussions on the proposal in hopes of realizing the minimum age change before the next Upper House election in summer 2019.

The team aims to submit a bill to revise the law during the current Diet session ending in June this year.

But it is uncertain whether such a bill will make it to parliament so soon, because some LDP lawmakers oppose the proposed minimum age change.

In the 2016 Upper House and 2017 Lower House elections, the LDP enjoyed relatively strong support from voters aged 18 and 19, according to exit polls by media organizations.

Advocates of the minimum age change expect that the measure would help draw more support for the party from young voters.

They talk about the idea that the LDP would consider soliciting candidates in their 20s for proportional representation seats in the 2019 Upper House poll if the minimum age change is realized in time.

Such a change may also help mitigate shortages of candidates for local assemblies. The village of Okawa, Kochi Prefecture, western Japan, considered scrapping its assembly and shift to direct democracy at one point.

"I believe it's good to let lawmakers pursue various employment opportunities after their public services, such as finding jobs at companies," a member of Shiozaki's team said.

The medium-ranking member also expressed hope that their proposal will trigger a debate on what to do with the shortages of candidates for public office in many municipalities.

But some LDP lawmakers, particularly veterans, do not support the proposal. "Candidates should have experience in the real world," an LDP member said.

Many opposition parties have called for easing the age requirement.

In its 2017 Lower House election platform, Nippon Ishin no Kai promised to lower the minimum election ages to 18, the same as the minimum voting age. The Party of Hope also backs an easing of the age requirements.

The Democratic Party, the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party jointly submitted a bill in 2016 to lower the two minimum ages for public office by five years. Jiji Press