A task force assembled by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus charged with reviewing optional amendments of the Referendum Act (公民投票法) met on Tuesday for the first time.
The DPP said that it felt it was necessary to reform the act after last month’s chaos, when referendums were held alongside the nine-in-one elections.
Task force members said they discussed measures to prevent fraud — such as using the names of deceased people on referendum petitions, which happened last month — as well as the establishment of a separate day for referendum voting.
Photo: CNA
The latter would be necessary to prevent local elections and referendums from interfering with each other, they said.
The task force hopes to deliberate on the specifics of a draft amendment at its next meeting, pending the finalization of the party caucus’ draft.
DPP legislators Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋), Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康), Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧), Lin Ching-yi (林靜儀) and Shih Yi-fang (施義芳) have already submitted their versions of the draft.
During the meeting, it was proposed that a set day be established for referendum voting to provide sufficient time for voters to read and understand each item.
Human Rights Day on Dec. 10 was offered as a possibility, although no consensus was reached on the issue.
Members proposed different ideas about how to address election fraud.
Tuan’s draft suggests giving more authority to the Central Election Commission to scrutinize the wording of referendums, which should be simple, clearly understandable and “not twist the facts.”
A mechanism is needed to ensure that signatures are not forged, such as requiring a national ID card for each signature, he said.
There must be ways to establish the validity of signatures, he said, adding that the commission should create a system whereby voters could check whether their identity has been fraudulently used to sign any referendums.
Su suggested that referendums be rejected if a certain number of their signatures were found to be invalid, and that voting on a referendum should not be held until six months after it passes the threshold.
Su also suggested keeping referendum voting on the same day as national elections to conserve resources.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
EVA Air is prohibiting the use of portable chargers on board all flights starting from Saturday, while China Airlines is advising passengers not to use them, following the lead of South Korean airlines. Current regulations prohibit portable chargers and lithium batteries from check-in luggage and require them to be properly packed in carry-on baggage, EVA Air said. To improve onboard safety, portable chargers and spare lithium batteries would be prohibited from use on all fights starting on Saturday, it said. Passengers are advised to fully charge electronic devices before boarding and use the AC and USB charging outlets at their seat, it said. South
WAR SIMULATION: The developers of the board game ‘2045’ consulted experts and analysts, and made maps based on real-life Chinese People’s Liberation Army exercises To stop invading Chinese forces seizing Taiwan, board gamer Ruth Zhong chooses the nuclear option: Dropping an atomic bomb on Taipei to secure the nation’s freedom and her victory. The Taiwanese board game 2045 is a zero-sum contest of military strategy and individual self-interest that puts players on the front lines of a simulated Chinese attack. Their battlefield game tactics would determine the theoretical future of Taiwan, which in the real world faces the constant threat of a Chinese invasion. “The most interesting part of this game is that you have to make continuous decisions based on the evolving situation,
Actor Lee Wei (李威) was released on bail on Monday after being named as a suspect in the death of a woman whose body was found in the meeting place of a Buddhist group in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) last year, prosecutors said. Lee, 44, was released on NT$300,000 (US$9,148) bail, while his wife, surnamed Chien (簡), was released on NT$150,000 bail after both were summoned to give statements regarding the woman’s death. The home of Lee, who has retreated from the entertainment business in the past few years, was also searched by prosecutors and police earlier on Monday. Lee was questioned three