Legislative Speaker You Si-kun touted the benefits of holding a referendum in 2022 along with the nine-in-one elections to deal with constitutional issues such as lowering the legal voting age and abolishing the Control Yuan and the Examination Yuan.
Even though an amendment to the Referendum Act (公民投票法) last year decoupled referendums from national elections and stipulated that they be held every two years on the fourth Saturday of August starting next year, You said in an interview published on Wednesday by the Chinese-language Mirror Media magazine that separating constitutional referendums from national elections might not be a good idea.
For a constitutional amendment to pass, it requires more than 9 million votes in a referendum — approximately 1 million more votes than the number of votes President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received in the Jan. 11 presidential election, You said.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Therefore, it would be “very difficult” for a referendum to pass if it were held independently from national elections, he said.
If the referendums on the proposed constitutional amendments fail, there is no telling how much longer people would have to wait before the issues are put to a referendum again, he added.
You said that he met separately with the three opposition caucuses in April, and all of them agreed that the referendum for the proposed constitutional amendments should be held in tandem with the national elections.
As soon as the next legislative session begins, he would order that a constitutional reform committee be formed, which would consist of 39 members from all four caucuses, in proportion with the number of lawmakers they have, he said.
Five members would be elected to chair committee meetings, he said.
The Additional Articles of the Constitution states that a referendum to amend the Constitution must be announced at least six months before a ballot is held, so the Legislative Yuan should ideally pass the motion to hold the referendum by February 2022, he said.
Regarding calls for the Legislative Yuan to be relocated or revamped, You said that there have been six motions on the issue since the previous batch of lawmakers were elected in 2016, including one by independent lawmaker Freddy Lim (林昶佐) to demolish the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and build a new legislature on the site.
You said he dare not say the task will be completed during his term, but he would be “very satisfied” just to see lawmakers decide on a new location.
‘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
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
RSS