Constitution of Malaysia (Amendment), 2019

This amendment to the Constitution of Malaysia seeks to amend Article 47 of the constitution to lower the age of a citizen who is qualified to be a member of the House of Representatives from 21 to 18 years. Likewise, Article 119 is amended to lower the age of a citizen who is entitled to vote from 21 years to 18 years. Currently, a person is required to apply for registration as an elector in a constituency and qualifying date in paragraph (b) of Clause (4) of Article 119 of the Federal Constitution refers to the date of such application. Subclause 3(b) seeks to amend the definition of “qualifying date” in paragraph (b) of Clause (4) of Article 119 to mean the date on which a person is registered by the Election Commission as an elector in a constituency. With this amendment, when a citizen attains the age of 18 years and is qualified to vote, he will be automatically registered as an elector by the Election Commission. Moreover, section 5 of the Eighth Schedule is amended to lower the age of a citizen qualified to be a member of a Legislative Assembly from 21 years to 18 years.