KUALA LUMPUR, July 16 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia lowered the voting age to 18 from 21 after lawmakers from both sides of the political divide voted to pass constitutional amendments on Tuesday.
All 211 lawmakers present in the lower house of the parliament voted in favor of the bill, with no abstentions or dissenting votes recorded, after Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad urged members of his Pakatan Harapan (PH) government and the opposition to cooperate.
He urged lawmakers in parliament before the vote to unite in supporting these amendments, despite differences in political views.
The PH had included the promise to lower the voting age as part of its election manifesto, before successfully captured power from the former ruling coalition Barisan Nasional (BN) in May last year.
The opposition backed the amendment after Mahathir's administration agreed to include provisions mandating automatic voter registration.
Additionally Malaysians aged 18 and above are now eligible to stand as electoral candidates.
Some 7.8 million new voters are expected to be registered by next general elections scheduled to be held in 2023, with the total votes expected to be 22.7 million compared to 14.9 million in 2018.
