Nuclear plant vote delayed again

A final decision to hold a non-legally binding consultative referendum on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant at the end of this year will be postponed until late July, Cabinet Secretary-General Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) said yesterday.

"The premier has agreed to allow the Cabinet's referendum evaluation team two more months to come up with the final decision in late July," Chiou, who is also head of the team; said at a press conference after the weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday morning.

Chiou said that the team, established in late February, was supposed to make the decision in three months after it was esatablished. But in its first month, the team focused most of its energy on drafting a referendum law which is still being reviewed by the Legislature. In its second month, the team researched results from four previous referenda held in Taipei City, Taipei County, Ilan County and Kungliao township between 1995 and 1998. In May, the team held a substantial discussion on the costs of a referendum.

According to Chiou, the team's researches further found that the referendum held in Taipei County had a turnout rate of 18 percent and was later rectified and disputed by the Control Yuan on the grounds that the county had illegally appropriated more than NT$50 million from subsidies for local governments to hold the referendum.

Chiou said that if the consultative referendum was held by the Cabinet, the cost would definitely exceed NT$50 million.

"If the cost of holding the referendum is lawfully appropriated to avoid being disputed by the Control Yuan, it would still be in accordance with the Constitution even though the referendum law has not yet been passed by the legislature," Chiou said.

Disagreeing with Chiou, the DPP's mainstream faction yesterday said that it opposed holding a referendum that would not be legally binding.

"Results of the referendum will only be cited as meaningless references. But, if the plant controversy is brought up again, it will attract another round of political instability," DPP legislator Wang Sing-nan (王幸男) said yesterday afternoon.

DPP legislative whip Chou Po-lun (周伯倫), who had previously expressed his support of a year-end referendum, yesterday said that he would wait for the Cabinet's final decision. Chou is going to run in the legislative elections in the Taipei County's constituencies where the plant is located and is therefore said to be under great pressure.

Chiou, nevertheless, said that if the legislature passed the referendum law before the referendum was held, it would further validate results and costs.

Although the Ministry of the Interior had previously said that the referendum to decide the plant's fate was likely to be held in northern Taiwan, Chiou yesterday did not confirm the constituencies where the referendum will be held. He said that the Cabinet expected the vote's turnout rate to be over 40 percent so that the vote was of a consultative nature.

Chiou also denied media speculation that high-ranking government officials including the president and the premier had decided to call off the vote.