Malaysia among few countries with voting age of 19 and above

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia is among the fewer than 20 countries in the world to have a minimum voting age of 19 and above.

Others include Singapore (21), United Arab Emirates (up to 25), South Korea (19), Bahrain (20), Cameroon (20) and Lebanon (21).

The United Arab of Emirates has the highest minimum voting age which can go up to age 25, depending on the ruler of each emirate.

In contrast, countries such as Argentina, Austria and Brazil have voting ages of 16.

Malaysia’s South-East Asian neighbours such as the Philippines and Thailand have a minimum voting age of 18 while Indonesia’s is 17.

The voting age for elections to the Scottish parliament and local government was lowered to 16, following a move to extend the voting pool for the referendum on seeking the Scottish independence in 2014.

Lebanon’s proposal to lower the minimum voting age from 21 to 18 was rejected by its parliament in 2010.