KUALA LUMPUR – The constitutional amendment lowering the voting age from 21 years old to 18 years old will come into force on December 15.
According to an announcement in the Federal Gazette, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong has decided that December 15 will be when certain provisions in the Constitutional (Amendment) Act 2019 come into force.
Currently, under Article 119 of the federal constitution, every citizen who reaches the age of 21 will be qualified to vote in their respective constituencies.
With the amendment, the words “twenty-one years” would be substituted with “eighteen years”.
The amendment will result in a constitutional provision that allows automatic voter registration as well.
On July 17, 2019, more than two-thirds of the Dewan Rakyat passed the constitutional amendment to lower the voting age to 18.
However, in March this year, when Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was still serving as prime minister, he announced that the implementation of Undi18 would be delayed given troubles faced by the Election Commission.
Then on September 3, the Kuching High Court ordered the federal government to implement the lowering of the voting age from 21 to 18 by December 31.
Putrajaya and the Election Commission did not appeal to challenge the decision.
On September 14, the implementation of Undi18 was also spelled out in the memorandum of understanding between the federal government led by Prime Minister Ismail Sabri and the opposition. – The Vibes, December 1, 2021
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