Taiwan should abolish the 50 percent turnout requirement for referendums, promote offensive instead of defensive referendums and secure balloting secrecy in referendums, according to the Initiative and Referendum Institute (IRI) Europe.
Bruno Kaufmann, president of IRI Europe, and Mattias Goldmann, special advisor to IRI Sweden, made the recommendations in their joint paper Taiwan 2004 Referendum Assessment Report published on Monday.
Since last autumn, IRI has been offering advice on holding referendums. Two members of IRI Europe, including Kaufmann, were invited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to monitor the March 20 referendum. They conducted a Taiwan Referendum Observation Mission between March 16 and March 23.
The two referendum questions failed because neither achieved the 50-percent turnout requirement.
The IRI Europe study said the 50- percent requirement significantly interfered with a free and fair democratic process. Such a threshold encouraged people to adopt boycotting tactics and did not enhance the dialogue and learning process between citizens, it added.
"No" votes and non-votes had been added together, making it very difficult to have a proposal adopted, the paper said.
"It is our strong recommendation, based on worldwide experience, to abolish the 50-percent turnout quorum in the Referendum Law (
The researchers noted that the "defensive referendum" called by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) under Article 17 of the Referendum Law became a victim of bipartisan competition, since it was held alongside the presidential election.
IRI Europe strongly recommended using "offensive" referendums on separate voting days in the future in order, it said, to promote the constructive elements of direct democracy.
"By `offensive' referendums we mean popular initiatives coming from the people of Taiwan and mandatory referendums on constitutional matters, as proposed by the opposition presidential candidate, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰)," the paper said.
IRI Europe also noted that in the March 20 referendum, people were forced to reveal whether they were taking part in the referendum or not, after having voted in the election. This interfered with the principle of confidentiality in democratic elections and referendums and should be avoided in the future, it said.
"The problem could be solved by not combining an election with a referendum, as well as by abolishing the 50-percent turnout requirement. But even if these factors remain, it is possible to secure voting secrecy by not physically separating the voting procedures," the study said.
Kaufmann and Goldmann observed preparations and voting in the referendum in several places in Taipei and Tainan.
A clear commitment to direct democracy, trouble-free execution, campaign effort, ballot papers, a specific referendum law and the existence of a legal body, the Referendum Review Commission, were cited by the paper as positive aspects of the referendum.
Driven by a strong commitment to direct democracy, discussions on the referendum focused on the specific procedures and the design, "which -- in comparison to many much older democracies in the West -- can be seen as an achievement," the study said.
The turnout quorum, the timing of the referendum, the "defensive referendum" eligibility, voting procedures, layout of the polling stations, the referendum questions and the handling of the referendum debates were seen as negative aspects.
"The Central Election Commission called for 10 public TV debates, which were virtually hijacked by talk-show hosts and other media personalities. It would have been better to have organized the debates along journalistic principles instead," the study said.
The study also criticized the Referendum Law for excluding budget issues, taxation, investment, salaries and personal matters as topics for referendums.
"The exclusion of almost all financial matters means that one of the issues most important to people is excluded from popular decision-making," the paper said.
The first two F-16V Bock 70 jets purchased from the US are expected to arrive in Taiwan around Double Ten National Day, which is on Oct. 10, a military source said yesterday. Of the 66 F-16V Block 70 jets purchased from the US, the first completed production in March, the source said, adding that since then three jets have been produced per month. Although there were reports of engine defects, the issue has been resolved, they said. After the jets arrive in Taiwan, they must first pass testing by the air force before they would officially become Taiwan’s property, they said. The air force
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
STRIKE: Some travel agencies in Taiwan said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group tours to the country were proceeding as planned A planned strike by airport personnel in South Korea has not affected group tours to the country from Taiwan, travel agencies said yesterday. They added that they were closely monitoring the situation. Personnel at 15 airports, including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports, are to go on strike. They announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the strike would begin on Friday next week and continue until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Some travel agencies in Taiwan, including Cola Tour, Lion Travel, SET Tour and ezTravel, said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group
RSS