Editing Elections in Japan (section)

== Rules and regulations, supervision ==
Both national & local elections are regulated by the {{Nihongo|Public Offices Election Law|公職選挙法|kōshoku-senkyo-hō}} of 1950.

Elections are supervised by Election Administration Commissions at each administrative level under the general direction of the Central Election Management Council, an [[extraordinary organ (Japan)|extraordinary organ]] attached to the [[Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications]] (MIC). The minimum voting age in Japan's non-compulsory electoral system was reduced from 20 to 18 years in June 2016.<ref>{{cite web|title=Diet enacts law lowering voting age to 18 from 20|url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/06/17/national/politics-diplomacy/diet-enacts-law-lowering-voting-age-18-20/|publisher=[[The Japan Times]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Public Offices Election Act amended to reduce the voting age to 18 {{!}} Liberal Democratic Party of Japan|url=https://www.jimin.jp/english/news/128184.html|access-date=2021-08-09|website=www.jimin.jp}}</ref> Voters must satisfy a three-month residency requirement before being allowed to cast a ballot.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Japan:Public Offices Election Act (2016) —|url=https://aceproject.org/ero-en/regions/asia/JP/japan-public-offices-election-act-2016-1/view|access-date=2021-08-09|website=aceproject.org}}</ref>

For those seeking offices, there are two sets of age requirements: twenty-five years of age for admission to the House of Representatives and most local offices, and thirty years of age for admission to the House of Councillors and the [[Governor (Japan)|prefectural governorship]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Japan:Public Offices Election Act (2016) —|url=https://aceproject.org/ero-en/regions/asia/JP/japan-public-offices-election-act-2016-1/view|access-date=2021-08-09|website=aceproject.org}}</ref> Each deposit for candidacy for national election is 3 million yen (about 27 thousand dollars) for a single-seat constituency and 6 million yen (about 54 thousand dollars) for proportional representation.