Seoul, December 31, : .South Korea’s National Assembly passed Friday a bill to lower the minimum age for parliamentary and local election candidacy from 25 years old to 18. According to Yonhap News Agency, the bill is likely to be approved by Cabinet next month.Anyone aged 18 or older can apply for a seat at the National Assembly beginning with March 9’s by-elections.The presidential election will take place simultaneously.
In the Assembly of 300, at least five seats are up for grabs.
With 10 abstentions, the bill was passed with 204-12 votes.
Since 1948, when the Constitution of the country was adopted in 1948, this is the first time that the age for candidacy has been lower.
Recent momentum was gained by both ruling and opposition parties as they tried to reach young voters to increase their participation in politics ahead of the next presidential election.
At 40, the minimum age to run for president will not change.
This bill was also passed before the June local elections.
This and other important issues were the reason why Friday’s plenary session was scheduled by rival parties.
They also extended the deadline for a special parliamentary commission to deal with media reform by five more months, until May 29.
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