Political Reform Committee Recommends Lowering Voting Age to 18

The National Assembly’s political reform committee, under the direct supervision of the National Assembly speaker, has decided to suggest a measure to revise the Political Parties Act, which obligates a central party to be located in the nation’s capital. By doing so, political parties can locate their central parties in any region desired. Also, the committee will recommend lowering the minimum voting age of 20 to 18. Kim Gwang-ung, head of the committee, said that when a central party is situated in a local area and has a few party offices in other cities or provinces, the political party will be accepted as a legitimate one. “Local political parties are not confined to participate in the national election,” he explained.

The committee also stated that preliminary candidates for the president or leaders of local government authorities are allowed to raise political funds for election, but there will be a maximum amount for every election.

In order to prevent any chance of public nomination influenced by donation, the committee set the maximum party expenditure at five million won per month per member, or 30 million won per year. All fund-raising gatherings are still banned.

Myoung-Gun Lee gun43@donga.com