The Taipei High Administrative Court yesterday ruled against a legal challenge by Taiwan New Constitution Foundation founder Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏) over the Central Election Commission’s (CEC) decision in October last year to reject two referendum proposals on drafting a new constitution.
The ruling can still be appealed.
Attorney Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎), speaking for Koo, said the court clearly did not take into account the right to national sovereignty enshrined in the Constitution, as well as the right of citizens to amend the Constitution.
Koo has decided to file an appeal, he added.
“This appeal would be important to leave a record for the justice system of the right of citizens to hold a referendum to draft a new constitution,” Huang said.
The two proposed referendum questions are: “Do you support the president in pushing for the establishment of a new constitution reflecting the reality of Taiwan?” and: “Do you support the president in initiating a constitutional reform process for the country?”
The CEC turned down the application on the grounds that their wording lacked clarity, did not meet procedural regulations and did not conform to “Initiatives or referendums on important policies” under Article 2 of the Referendum Act (公民投票法).
The question was not clearly stated, the commission said, citing Article 9 of the act, which states that “the main text of the first paragraph shall be concise, clear, and objectively neutral,” and “the competent authority shall establish the written method, word count calculation, grammar and other related matters in the main text and the statement of reasons.”
“CEC officials had distorted the interpretation of the Referendum Act,” Huang said, adding that the act does not bar citizens from pursuing constitutional reform of major policies.
He also cited public polls which showed that 80 to 90 percent of the public hope that Taiwan would become a “normal country,” and that they support “rectification” of the nation’s name, “drafting a new constitution” and “joining the UN.”
Additional reporting by Jason Pan
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