Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Ou-po (陳歐珀) yesterday said that he would propose amendments to the Referendum Act (公民投票法) to allow the Central Election Commission to decide whether to hold referendums on the same day as an election and to require a headline for referendums.
The proposed amendments were designed to address a number of “execution difficulties” that arose in the referendums held on Nov. 24 last year following changes to the act in December 2017, Chen told a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.
Holding referendums and elections on the same day not only slows the polling process, but gives the public little time to understand the subject of a referendum, Chen said.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
To prevent those problems from reoccurring, the act should be amended so that the commission can decide whether to hold a referendum on the same day as an election, he said.
Referendum ballots should also have a headline summarizing the proposal to make them easier to understand, he added.
“Article 9 of the act requires a referendum’s initiator to provide the main text of the proposal, a statement of reasons and other items, but not a headline,” Chen said.
“A headline that is concise and clear would make the voting process more efficient,” he said.
“As the ruling party, there are many laws and amendments that we should review,” Chen said, adding that he hopes to set the wheel in motion by offering his own draft amendments.
Chen is not the first DPP legislator to propose an amendment to the act since the Nov. 24 referendums.
The DPP caucus on Dec. 7 last year held a meeting to discuss amending the act and formed a team, led by legislators Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) and Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋), tasked with studying draft amendments.
Since then, six amendments — drafted by Lee and DPP legislators Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧), Chen Lai Su-mei (陳賴素美), Lin Ching-yi (林靜儀), Lu Sun-ling (呂孫綾), Shih Yi-fang (施義芳) and Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟), as well as Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Jason Hsu (許毓仁) — have been proposed for legislative review.
The 2017 amendment, which significantly lowered the thresholds for initiating and passing a referendum, has led to a dramatic increase in the number of referendums held.
On Nov. 24 last year, 10 referendums were held alongside the nine-in-one elections, significantly slowing the polling process. At some polling stations, people were still voting after other stations had begun counting ballots, raising concerns over the election’s fairness.
Article 23 of the act stipulates that a referendum that has passed the commission’s final review must be held a least one month later and within six months; and if any national election has been scheduled to take place within that period, the referendum must be held on the same day.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
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
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS