The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday it plans to collect 80,000 signatures by the end of next month to reach the first benchmark needed for a proposed referendum on a planned economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China.
It would then start a signature petition to obtain 1 million signatures in August to reach the second application stage, DPP spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said.
The Referendum Act (公投法) stipulates that the signatures of 0.5 percent of eligible voters — approximately 80,000 — must be collected to apply to hold a referendum. In the second stage, 5 percent of eligible voters — approximately 800,000 — must sign the petition before the Referendum Review Committee can screen the proposed referendum.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) reiterated his opposition to a referendum on the ECFA during a press conference in Belize on Thursday.
The ECFA would lead to a “one China market” and closer economic exchanges with China, which would have a significant impact on Taiwan, Cheng said.
“The proposed agreement would involve issues such as sovereignty concerns, and Ma should stop lying to the public and saying the pact would not touch on political issues,” Cheng said.
One million signatures would be a big challenge for the DPP, but the party was willing to make the effort, Cheng said.
Since Ma has said the government hopes to sign the ECFA within a year, the DPP will have to speed up its efforts, Cheng said.
The DPP does not want the referendum held with the year-end mayoral and commissioner elections, he said, but it has not decided if it should be held alongside the mayoral elections scheduled for next year.
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