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.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,900) for advertisements that exceeded its approved business scope and ordered the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license would be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter supervision of Chinese e-commerce platforms and more stringent measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan as US President Donald Trump’s administration cracks down on origin laundering. The legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday met to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report on the matter. Democratic Progressive Party
Taiwan and its Pacific ally Tuvalu on Tuesday signed two accords aimed at facilitating bilateral cooperation on labor affairs, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). The governments inked two agreements in Taipei, witnessed by Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) and visiting Deputy Tuvaluan Prime Minister Panapasi Nelesone, MOFA said in a news release. According to MOFA, the agreements will facilitate cooperation on labor issues and allow the two sides to mutually recognize seafarers’ certificates and related training. Taiwan would also continue to collaborate with Tuvalu across various fields to promote economic prosperity as well as the well-being of their
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office has continued its investigation into allegations of forged signatures in recall efforts today by searching the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) city chapter and questioning several personnel including the chapter director, according to media reports. Among those questioned and detained were KMT Taipei chapter director Huang Lu Chin-ju (黃呂錦茹), chapter secretary-general Chu Wen-ching (初文卿), chapter secretary Yao Fu-wen (姚富文) and first district committee executive director Tseng Fan-chuan (曾繁川). Prosecutors said they would not confirm reports about who had been summoned. The investigation centers on allegations that the ongoing recall campaigns targeting Democratic Progressive Party legislators Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤)
Several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials including Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) are to be summoned for questioning and then transferred to prosecutors for holding an illegal assembly in Taipei last night, the Taipei Police said today. Chu and two others hosted an illegal assembly and are to be requested to explain their actions, the Taipei City Police Department's Zhongzheng (中正) First Precinct said, referring to a protest held after Huang Lu Chin-ju (黃呂錦茹), KMT Taipei's chapter director, and several other KMT staffers were questioned for alleged signature forgery in recall petitions against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. Taipei prosecutors had filed