Legislative deliberation on reform to the Referendum Act (公民投票法) yesterday came to a standstill after Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators withdrew from a meeting of the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee at about midday.
In the absence of the KMT caucus, their Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) counterparts unanimously passed a motion to lower the threshold of first-phase petitions for referendums to require signatures from just 0.01 percent of the electorate — or about 1,800 people.
Currently, referendums can be launched by members of the general public through a process that involves two successive petitions, a first-phase petition that requires the support of 0.5 percent of the electorate, followed by a second-phase petition that requires signatures from 5 percent.
Photo: AFP
As there are about 18 million eligible voters in the nation, the two successive petitions currently require about 90,000 and 900,000 signatures respectively.
A 50 percent turnout of eligible voters is also required for a referendum to be declared legitimate, a threshold which critics say is almost unattainable.
The KMT legislative caucus said that its members walked out of the meeting in protest against what they said were unreasonable negotiation methods adopted by the DPP.
Photo: CNA
The KMT added that it refused to continue reviewing the act while “feeling threatened” by demonstrators outside the Legislative Yuan compound, referring to dozens of protesters who voiced their demands through loudspeakers.
Led by Taiwan March cofounder Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷), who played a central role in the Sunflower movement protests last year, the protesters said that the turnout threshold for referendums should be abolished.
The meeting began smoothly in the morning, but tensions quickly escalated after Executive Yuan Secretary-General Chien Tai-lang (簡太郎) said that the government would refuse to accept any adjustments to the current 50 percent turnout threshold for general referendums.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
Although Chien said the government would agree to lower the threshold for the first-phase petition to 0.3 percent — about 54,000 signatures — he remained opposed to changes to the second-phase petition or to the voter turnout threshold.
His remarks sparked outrage among DPP legislators, who said that the government clearly lacked sincerity in promoting reforms to the act.
“We have engaged in so much talk about the first-phase petition because it is an initial threshold that would affect other regulations; if we already know what the results will be in the end, our previous discussions are rendered meaningless,” DPP Legislator Pasuya Yao (姚文智) said.
KMT legislators expressed dissatisfaction after their DPP counterparts demanded that they take a stance on the issue, saying that discussions about the second-phase petition requirements or the voter turnout threshold should be addressed at future meetings.
“Nobody forces an opposing party to reveal their bottom line during negotiations,” KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) told reporters at the KMT legislative caucus office in the afternoon.
He added that the KMT has expressed goodwill toward enacting reforms to the act, as KMT legislators have suggested that the threshold for first-phase petitions could be lowered to 0.25 percent.
Wu accused protesters from Taiwan March of disrupting the legislative process and of “personally threatening” the safety of KMT Legislator Chang Ching-chung (張慶忠) during a meeting two weeks ago.
“If lowering the threshold must be done exactly in accordance with your wishes, well I am sorry, but you must get elected as legislators yourselves before joining discussions with us,” Wu said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique