In what is being billed as the most significant change to Japan's electoral system in the postwar era, the revised Public Election Offices Law that grants the right to vote to 18- and 19-year-olds takes effect Sunday.

The revision is an attempt to encourage younger people to be more politically active.

After the minimum voting age is lowered from the current 20 to 18, youths eligible to vote will cast their first ballots at the national level in the July 10 Upper House election.