Premier Yu Shyi-kun said yesterday that the government's plan to hold a defensive referendum at the same time as the presidential election would be "no problem" legally.
"It is no problem to hold the referendum along with the presidential election no matter whether you look at it from the point of view of statute, purpose or legal theory," Yu said.
The premier said that the public should not be confused by the claim of certain people whose remarks against the referendum are based on personal ideology.
Yu made his comments during a visit to the Central Election Commission (CEC) yesterday morning. He was there to collect registration forms for the presidential election on behalf of President Chen Shui-bian (
In the face of challenges from opposition parties, who call the planned referendum an abuse of power by Chen and say it lacks statutory grounds, the premier said that the president developed the proposition in accordance with the Referendum Law (公民投票法), which entitles him to initiate a referendum to protect the sovereignty of the nation from external threats.
The premier said that government employees in charge of the referendum must carry out their duty by obeying legal instructions, and that their doing so would be protected by law.
Yu said that voters should be confident in civil servants' ability to carry out the referendum process.
"They are experienced, given that the country has had elections for 50 years," Yu said in response to People First Party Chairman (PFP) James Soong's (宋楚瑜) criticism that the government's scheduling three votes -- one for choosing the next president and two on referendums -- would complicate polling procedures and confuse voting personnel.
Yu said that the point of combining the votes was to provide greater convenience to the people and to spend as little tax money as possible.
Meanwhile, Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung (
The Presidential Office is expected to deliver the president's proposals before that date, he said.
CEC Chairman George Huang (
In related news, Lin yesterday called the opposition party's latest plan concerning Chen's referendum "illegal and unreasonable."
Lin made the statement in response to comments by PFP caucus leader Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋), who yesterday said that his caucus is planning to propose voting on a resolution on Chen's referendum questions when the Legislative Yuan convenes its new session next Friday.
If such a resolution were passed, Chou said, the party could, according to the law, demand that the CEC stop preparations for the referendum.
"A resolution and a referendum are two totally different matters. An indirect resolution is not equivalent to direct public opinion," Lin said, saying that the opposition parties often look for excuses to justify their anti-referendum stance.
Additional reporting by Huang Tai-lin
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