An amendment to the Referendum Law (公投法) will be approved if lawmakers are happy with it, but will be rejected if lawmakers are not satisfied, Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said yesterday.
"I agree. This is a controversial issue. There is no simple `yes' or `no' answer to it, either. Some would endorse it while others will definitely boycott it," he said.
Hsieh made his remarks in response to lawmakers' comments on the referendum issue when he was approached by reporters yesterday morning. The premier urged the public to "look at the long term" when it comes to a controversial issue such as this.
"If the bottom line of the referendum is too strict, then it will be very difficult for us to decide something by organizing a referendum and the referendum would be meaningless," he said.
"I believe that our friends in opposition parties will also have their own political issues that need to be decided by referendum in the future. I am sure they will appreciate what we are doing now when the time comes," the premier added.
Criticism began after the Cabinet proposed the amendment to the Referendum Law on Wednesday. Currently, to initiate a referendum, it requires at least 0.5 percent of the total number of qualified voters -- ?approximately 80,000 people -- ? to endorse a referendum initiative.
To pass an issue, it requires "yeas" from at least 5 percent of the total number of voters, which is approximately 800,000 people. The amendment only requires 0.03 percent of the qualified voters, which is about 4,800 people, to endorse a referendum, and the "yeas" of more than 1.5 percent of the voters, about 200,000 people, to authorize an issue through a referendum.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Secretary-General Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋) said that the amendment to the Referendum Law is helping the government approve more issues that concern the public and will be good for everybody.
"Taiwan is a mature democratic country. We believe that Taiwanese people know what they want and are capable of deciding what they want," Lee said.
However, the pan-blue camp complained that the DPP is doing this for its own future campaigns. In addition, they claimed that their lawmakers will definitely boycott the amendment when it is submitted to the legislature. KMT caucus whip Lai Shyh-bao (
"If that's the case, in future the Cabinet will be able to carry out a referendum and pass a proposal easily if its proposals are declined by the legislature. This is discriminatory to the legislature and obviously a form of dictatorship," Lai said.
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