A coalition of political commentators launched a signature drive yesterday, petitioning to play the "opposition" side in the planned 10 referendum debates after opposition legislative caucuses failed to present their lists of potential debate candidates to the Central Election Commission on Monday.
Coalition members include independent lawmaker Sisy Chen (
Other potential candidates include former DPP chairmen Shih Ming-teh (
The relationship between Chen and the two former DPP chairmen has been ambiguous since a DPP lawmaker accused Chen of "screwing up" the duo's political careers.
"The difference between a `sacred' referendum and a `Hitler-style' referendum is whether there's sufficient information available to the public before they cast their ballot," she told the press conference held at the legislature yesterday afternoon.
While most people, including the opposition parties, were afraid of standing up against the "big bad wolf," Chen said that she felt obligated to present different viewpoints.
A total of 3,094 signatures, or 1,547 signatures for each of the two questions of the referendum, have to be collected by 5:30 pm on Friday to make the petition valid.
Monday was the deadline for the Cabinet and opposition parties to present their lists of potential candidates to the commission, according to debate rules set by the commission.
Premier Yu Shyi-kun approved five Cabinet officials and five experts to participate in the televised debates on the referendum issue. Legislative caucuses, however, decided not to make use of this historic opportunity.
Commission debate rules stipulate that debates will become mere presentations of opinions if no one participates to present opposing views.
Authorized individuals or civic groups interested in playing the "opposition" side in the debate can also take part.
Such groups, however, have to file a list of proposed candidates by Friday.
Although the Cabinet's list of debaters would in principle remain unchanged, Cabinet Spoke-sman Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said that more debaters might be added to the list depending on the candidates presented by the coalition.
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