One spillover effect of voters using ballots to punish the ruling party — the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) — was the failure to pass a proposed constitutional amendment to grant Taiwanese aged 18 years or older the right to vote and the right to run for public office, academics said yesterday.
The referendum needed 9,619,697 “yes” votes to pass, but the Central Election Committee (CEC) data showed that the voter turnout was 58.97 percent, with 5,647,102 voting “yes” and 5,016,427 voting “no” for the proposal.
The data showed that in all six special municipalities, the “yes” side won over the “no” side in votes, but only by a slight margin.
Photo: Liao Yao-tung, Taipei Times
There were more “yes” votes than “no” votes in eight cities and counties, including Hsinchu County, Miaoli County, Nantou County, Hualien County, Taitung County, Kinmen County, Lienchiang County and Keelung.
In the five cities and counties where the DPP won in the race for mayor or commissioner — Chiayi County, Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung County and Penghu County — the “yes” votes exceeded the “no” votes.
The cities or counties with the highest percentage of “yes” votes among eligible voters were Chiayi County (33.84 percent), Pingtung County (33.78 percent), Taipei (32.48 percent), Yilan County (32.45 percent) and Yunlin County (32.42 percent).
The other approval rates in other cities and counties ranged from 20 to 30 percent, with the exception of Kinmen County, which was only 10.65 percent.
The proposed voting age amendment was supported by legislators across party lines, but it failed to pass the national referendum.
Soochow University law professor Hu Po-yen (胡博硯) said a possible reason is that many traditional pan-blue camp voters believe young people mostly support the DPP, so they are concerned about losing support by allowing 18-year-olds vote.
Also, some voters appeared to use their ballots to punish the DPP, so they might have voted against the DPP’s preference in the referendum, he said.
As each political party had supported the referendum and there was no opposition, the issue failed to create public discussion, Hu added.
Chu Chao-hsiang (曲兆祥), a professor at National Taiwan Normal University’s Graduate Institute of Political Science, said although the “yes” votes exceeded the “no” votes, it could be misleading, as voters who were against the proposal could have refused to receive their referendum ballot.
There are also some people — in pan-blue and pan-green camps, mostly elderly people — who are concerned that 18-year-olds are not mature enough to vote or run for elected positions, Chu said.
More than 10 million people voted in the referendum, but the result indicated that Taiwanese society is still undecided on the issue, DPP Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) said.
The threshold for the constitutional amendment is very high and difficult to pass, he added.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip William Tseng (曾銘宗) said granting voting and civil rights to 18-year-olds is a global norm, and the referendum proposal was supported by legislators across party lines, but there were many “no” votes on Saturday, implying that society does not have a consensus on the issue.
DPP Legislator Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟), who lobbied for the amendment, said that although most democratic countries grant 18-year-olds suffrage, Taiwan’s democracy is relatively young, having endured for only about 30 years.
However, having more “yes” than “no” votes can be considered progress, Chao added.
Asked if the proposal could be introduced again, Lo said it could be difficult to gain enough support in a short time, and Tseng said it must be pushed for again, but more planning and communication with residents would be needed.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
MINOR DISRUPTION: The outage affected check-in and security screening, while passport control was done manually and runway operations continued unaffected The main departure hall and other parts of Terminal 2 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport lost power on Tuesday, causing confusion among passengers before electricity was fully restored more than an hour later. The outage, the cause of which is still being investigated, began at about midday and affected parts of Terminal 2, including the check-in gates, the security screening area and some duty-free shops. Parts of the terminal immediately activated backup power sources, while others remained dark until power was restored in some of the affected areas starting at 12:23pm. Power was fully restored at 1:13pm. Taoyuan International Airport Corp said in a