Referendums in Taiwan

Referendums in Taiwan at both the national and local level are governed by the Referendum Act of Taiwan, which was enacted by the Legislative Yuan in December 2003. Citizens can propose laws via referendums at the national and local levels. The Referendum Act also allowed people to make changes or abolish laws by referendums.

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History

While the rights of initiatives and referendums are mentioned in the Three Principles of the People and Chapter 9, Article 136 of the Constitution of 1947,[1] a law pertaining specifically to referendums was not enacted until 2003. The Referendum Act was promoted by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) politicians such as Chai Trong-rong, Lin Yi-hsiung, Yeh Chu-lan, Lu Hsiu-yi, Lin Cho-shui, and the Chen Shui-bian-Annette Lu administration. While both citizens of Taiwan and the Legislative Yuan can initiate the referendum process, the Pan-Blue Coalition held a legislative majority at the time of the act's promulgation, and set an extremely high bar to prevent its application.[2][3][4][5][6][7]

No national referendum question had reached the majority support quota until 2018, when seven questions were approved as part of a ten-question referendum. Three had been successful at the local level. New Power Party, Taiwan Solidarity Union, and some DPP members are major forces in the legislature calling for reform.[8][9][10]

The Legislative Yuan revised several sections of the Referendum Act in December 2017. The first round proposal threshold for national and local referendums were cut from 0.1 to 0.01 percent of the electorate in the most recent presidential election, and the second tier proposal threshold for referendums was lowered from 5 to 1.5 percent of the electorate. Additionally, referendums will be declared passed if a majority of voters vote for propositions, and the number of agreeing votes reaches 25 percent of the electorate, instead of 50 percent.[11][12][13]

Several amendments to the Referendum Act were proposed in June 2019, among them a requirement for voters to provide a photocopy of their National Identification Card when voting on referendums.[14] An amendment to separate election years from referendum years was passed, and will take effect in August 2021. The same amendment also limited referendum voting to every two years, and mandated a specific date for the vote, the fourth Saturday in August, putting the next referendum on 28 August 2021.[15][16]

National referendums

Referendums

There have been sixteen national referendums in Taiwan. During the first six, two referendum questions were asked in each of three national elections:

In each of these six national referendums, "Yes" votes won a majority over "No" votes. However, the referendum results were invalidated each time due to low turnout rate. According to the Referendum Law, 50% turnout of qualified voters is required for the referendum to be valid. The threshold has yet to be reached, as the Kuomintang asked its supporters to boycott each referendum. Therefore, the removal of the turnout restriction in the referendum law has been proposed.[19] Several provisions regarding turnout were amended by the Legislative Yuan in December 2017.

Following amendments to the Referendum Act, ten questions were asked during the 2018 Taiwanese referendum, held alongside local and municipal elections.

Referendum proposals

A national referendum on the state of Kuomintang party assets was proposed in 2006.[20] The Act Governing the Handling of Ill-gotten Properties by Political Parties and Their Affiliate Organizations was promulgated by the Legislative Yuan in July 2016 to handle the issue instead.[21]

In 2010, the Referendum Review Committee, then controlled by the Pan-Blue Coalition, rejected several referendum proposals against the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, signed in 2010.[22][23][24][25] despite the collection of nearly 200,000 signatures supporting a referendum on Cross-Strait economic pacts.[26][27][28][29] Public opinion surveys show a majority of respondents opposed the signing of the ECFA with China and many experts, politicians, and protesters see a referendum for the ECFA as essential.[30][31][32]

In 2016, Kuomintang vice chairman Hau Lung-pin proposed that the fate of a food import ban in place against Japan since the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster be decided via referendum.[33][34] The Kuomintang legislative caucus moved to reduce turnout restrictions so the food import ban could be considered via referendum, but the proposal did not pass.[35]

Local referendums

From 1990 to 2003, sixteen local referendums were called.[36] Since the Referendum Act passed, four local referendums have been held as of 2016. The first one was held in Kaohsiung in 2008 for reducing the size of classes in elementary school and high school. It was invalid due to its low turnout rate.[37] The other three attempted to legalize casinos and were valid due via special law: the ones held in Penghu in 2009 and 2016 failed[38] while the one held in Lienchiang in 2012 succeeded.[39] No legal casino has yet been established in Taiwan.

Defensive referendum

Article 17 of the Referendum Act states "When the country is under the threat of foreign force and the national sovereignty is likely to be changed, the President may, with the resolution of the meeting of the Executive Yuan, apply the matters regarding the national security to referendum." Such a referendum has not yet been held.[40][41][42]

Constitional referendums

Amendments to the constitution initiated by one fourth of the members of the Legislative Yuan then voted by three fourth of them require ratification in referendums by at least 25 percent of all eligible voters. If the referendum is about the country's territory, the quorum is heightened to 50 percent of all eligible voters.[43]

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See also

References
  1. Constitution of the Republic of China . Chapter XII: ELECTION, RECALL, INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM, Article 136 – via Wikisource.
  2. 民進黨完成公民投票法草案, Taiwan Television News, 1993/3/14
  3. President defends nation's right to hold referendums, Taipei Times, 2003/8/15
  4. Taiwan referendum bill sets stage, BBC, 2003/11/28
  5. Vote to push for status quo, Chen says, Taipei Times, 2003/12/5
  6. Concert held to commemorate DPP’s Chai Trong-rong, Taipei Times, 2014/2/19
  7. 誰主導了全世界最落伍的鳥籠式公投法？, Taiwan People News, 2014-5-6
  8. DPP firm on changing referendum law, Taipei Times, 2009/8/29
  9. NPP tables amendments to the Referendum Act, Taipei Times, 2016/3/23
  10. New Legislative Session: NPP reveals list of priority legislation, Taipei Times, 2016/9/14
  11. Shih, Hsiu-chuan; Liu, Li-jung (12 December 2017). "Referendum amendment passage makes people masters: president". Central News Agency. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  12. Lin, Sean (13 December 2017). "Referendum Act amendments approved". Taipei Times. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  13. Art. 29 of the referendum law
  14. Wen, Kuei-hsiang; Kao, Evelyn (17 June 2019). "DPP to revise proposed amendment to Referendum Act". Central News Agency. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
  15. Wang, Flor; Chen, Chun-hua (17 June 2019). "Referendums to be limited to every two years from August 2021". Central News Agency. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
  16. Hsieh, Chun-lin (18 June 2019). "Referendums decoupled from polls". Taipei Times. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
  17. Taiwan pursues first referendum: President seeks vote on Chinese missiles, Associated Press, 2003/12/7
  18. Chen reveals plan for referendum in interview, Taiwan Info, 2003/12/8
  19. 打破鳥籠公投 鄭麗君提修正案, Liberty Times, 2016-03-04
  20. "KMT legislative caucus threatens retaliatory action". Taipei Times. 27 November 2006. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
  21. Chung, Jake (26 July 2016). "Legislature approves law on ill-gotten party assets". Taipei Times. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
  22. Excutive (sic) Yuan group upholds referendum rejection, Taipei Times, 2010/2/27
  23. ECFA referendum proposal rejected, Taipei Times, 2010/6/4
  24. TSU see red as ECFA referendum rejected, Taipei Times, 2010/7/26
  25. Heated words from the TSU after latest ECFA referendum rejection, Formosa News, 2010/8/11
  26. DPP completes first stage of ECFA referendum bid, Taipei Times, 2009/7/21
  27. Protesters demand referendum, Taipei Times, 2010/5/30
  28. TSU still fighting for vote on ECFA, Taipei Times, 2010/7/1
  29. TSU submits signatures for another ECFA referendum, Taipei Times, 2010/11/23
  30. DPP poll reveals majority opposed to signing of ECFA, Taipei Times, 2010/3/26
  31. DPP chairwoman renews call for referendum on ECFA, Focus Taiwan, 2010/4/9
  32. Ex-grand justice sees ECFA referendum as essential, Taipei Times, 2014/4/22
  33. Hsu, Stacy (2 December 2016). "KMT pushes for a referendum on food import ban". Taipei Times. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  34. Chang, Jung-hsiang; Liu, Kuan-ting; Su, Justin; Wu, Lilian (1 December 2016). "KMT vice chair calls for referendum on radiation-affected food". Central News Agency. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  35. Chung, Jake (10 December 2016). "KMT proposal to amend Referendum Act defeated". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  36. Han Cheung (2 December 2018). "Taiwan in Time: The dawn of the referendum era". Taipei Times. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  37. Referendum short of threshold, Taipei Times, Nov 16, 2008
  38. Penghu referendum rejects casinos again, Focus Taiwan, 2016/10/15
  39. Group says Matsu casino referendum was rigged, Taipei Times, 2012/7/11
  40. Referendum Act, National Laws & Regulations Database of TAIWAN
  41. President Chen: Conditions met for referendum, Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States, 2004-02-04
  42. President sends 'reasons for referendum' letter to Executive Yuan, Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States, 2004-02-05
  43. Constitution of the Republic of China (Taiwan), Office of the President
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