The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and opposition parties on Thursday submitted a joint bill to be enacted during the current Diet session to reform the Public Office Election Laws so that the legal voting age will be lowered from 20 to 18.

Members from six political parties first submitted a bill to the House of Representatives (lower house) last year but it was shelved after the lower house was dissolved for the December election.

A government spokesman said passage of the bill will allow young people to participate in the political process and have their voices heard. If approved, the proposed change would add some 2.4 million new voters to the electorate, granting them the right to participate in elections as soon as the summer of 2016, when a vote for the Diet's upper house will be held.

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