The ruling and opposition parties on Tuesday jointly submitted a bill to the Lower House to lower the age from which people can vote in a referendum to 18, a step forward in achieving Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's long-held goal of revising the Constitution.
The current referendum law was enacted in 2007 under Abe's first government to rectify a situation where there is no detailed process to hold a national referendum.
Under the bill submitted by a total of seven parties, the voting age involving a referendum to revise the Constitution will be lowered to 18 from the current 20 four years after the revised law takes effect.