The Taipei High Administrative Court yesterday rejected the Taiwan Solidarity Union’s (TSU) administrative appeal against the Central Election Commission (CEC) for turning down the party’s petition to hold a referendum on the issue of Taiwan signing a cross-strait trade pact.
TSU Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) filed the case with the court earlier this year after the Cabinet’s Referendum Review Committee rejected the TSU’s proposed referendum.
The TSU’s application requested a referendum on the question: “Do you agree that the government should sign an Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) with China?”
The court yesterday ruled the commission’s decision was not in violation of the law.
Noting the Council of Grand Justices’ Constitutional Interpretation No. 645, the administrative court said the setup of the Referendum Review Committee was in line with the Referendum Act (公民投票法) and, therefore, constitutional. As the committee rejected the TSU’s proposal in a vote after holding the hearing, the CEC simply acted in accordance with the committee’s decision and turned down the TSU’s case, the ruling said.
Upon learning of the result, Huang yesterday said he would appeal the case.
The review committee’s decision was in violation of constitutional rights and a serious affront to Taiwan’s democracy, he alleged, adding that the committee had overstepped its jurisdiction by striking down all three referendum proposals previously pitched by the TSU.
Huang also accused the court of being a tool of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration to choke the liberty of the people.
Ma’s judicial reforms were a hoax, he said, charging that after Ma was sworn in as president, agencies that were supposed to act independently, such as the CEC and the review committee, ceased to do so.
Calling the Referendum Act a “birdcage referendum” that does not protect the people’s rights, Huang urged the Legislative Yuan to amend the law as soon as -possible to re-empower the public.
The Referendum Act stipulates that a referendum proposal, after completing the first stage of collecting signatures from 0.5 percent of the number of eligible voters in the previous presidential election, must obtain approval from the Referendum Review Committee before it can proceed to the next stage, which involves collecting signatures from 5 percent of that same number. It must then pass a second review before making it to the polling stations.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
New Taipei City prosecutors have indicted a cram school teacher in Sinjhuang District (新莊) for allegedly soliciting sexual acts from female students under the age of 18 three times in exchange for cash payments. The man, surnamed Su (蘇), committed two offenses in 2023 and one last year, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. The office in recent days indicted Su for contraventions of the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act (兒童及少年性剝削防制條例), which prohibits "engaging in sexual intercourse or lewd acts with a minor over the age of 16, but under the age of 18 in exchange for
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
RSS