Supporters of pan-blue politicians are urging people not to support a referendum to lower the voting age to 18, lawmakers and Taipei city councilors said yesterday, with some accusing Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) leaders of duplicity and betraying the public’s trust.
Messages shared widely among pan-blue camp supporters are undermining the attempt to lower the voting age to 18, with the referendum to be held alongside the local elections on Saturday next week, independent Taipei City Councilor Meredith Huang (黃郁芬) said.
KMT politicians have again deceived people, saying in public that they support the referendum, which also seeks to lower the age of eligibility for candidacy to 18, Huang said, adding that former KMT legislator Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安), the party’s Taipei mayoral candidate, should take a clear stand on the matter.
Photo: CNA
Chiang has repeatedly backed a “yes” vote in the referendum at public events, she said.
However, despite his pronouncements, many KMT supporters on social media have been calling for people to refuse the referendum voting papers, which would make it difficult to reach the turnout threshold required for it to pass, she said.
Messages posted on the Line messaging app in a group for Taipei civil servants — reportedly used mainly by KMT supporters — included one that read: “It is recommended not to pick up the referendum ballots, as it would lower the voting age to 18,” Huang said.
Photo: CNA
“If party central did not give instructions, it is hard for us to have a consensus,” was a reply from a separate user, Huang said, adding that the message went on to say: “Young people do not favor the blue camp, so I agree with you, but let us talk in private, because if this conversation leaks, it will be damaging.”
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said that KMT Legislator Lee Te-wei (李德維), who is Chiang’s campaign spokesman, had agreed with the calls to undermine the referendum vote.
People had provided information showing that Su Yu-ying (蘇鈺英) — the director of the KMT’s chapter in Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖) and a deputy of group supporting Chiang in the district — wrote that she agreed that people should refuse to pick up referendum ballots to deny the threshold from being met, Wang said.
In a separate discussion, KMT supporters were debating whether to take the ballot, but vote “no,” he said.
“The KMT’s devious ploy has been laid bare,” Wang said. “Its supporters say positive things — pretending to be for young people and progress by making a public display of supporting a ‘yes’ vote — but in private, they do the opposite, undermining the effort.”
The party betrays the public’s trust,” he said.
In the past year, including during their campaign efforts, KMT candidates have sought to gain support from young people, so they spoke many times in public and in interviews about the party’s endorsement of the referendum, Huang said. “Legislator Chiang himself in the past few weeks has spoken of his support for lowering the voting age to 18, but in reality, he — along with KMT supporters — are playing a fraudulent game.”
“They are outwardly seeking public support, but internally they are networking to deny the ballot or vote against it,” she said.
Chiang told reporters yesterday that “those were only partial messages and were not the complete discussion.”
“My position has not changed, I strongly support the referendum to lower the voting age to 18, for young people to have rights as citizens, and I hope more people can join me to support this cause,” he said.
‘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