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KMT legislator says party should drop UN referendum

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), who launched the campaign to boycott referendums held during the legislative elections, said the KMT should withdraw its proposed referendum on "returning" to the UN using the title "Republic of China."

Hung also called on the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to withdraw its referendum bid on joining the UN under the name "Taiwan."

However, according to the Referendum Act (公民投票法), doing so would break the law.

Asked for comment, Hung said she hoped to "simplify" the presidential election, as the main focus should be the platforms of the presidential contenders.

The Central Election Commission (CEC) decided to hold the proposed referendums alongside the presidential election on March 22.

Hung said she did not agree with holding the referendums with the election because referendums have become "tools of populism" for the parties.

Hung said she hoped the KMT would show "goodwill" and "patience" to the DPP, adding that both parties should focus on "reconstruction after the disaster" -- an apparent reference to the legislative elections.

The KMT won a landslide victory in Saturday's election, securing 81 of the 113 seats under the new "single district, two-vote" system. The DPP won 27.

Approached for comment, KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said the party must show "caution" at this time. He did not elaborate.

KMT Legislator Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕), who doubles as a member of the party's decision-making Central Standing Committee, said she did not think the KMT should withdraw its referendum proposal because joining the UN was an aspiration shared by Taiwanese.

Lu said she believed voters would take a "pragmatic" attitude vis-a-vis the two referendums, adding that referendums are merely means for the people to "express their opinion."

In response, DPP legislative caucus whip Wang Tuoh (王拓) said yesterday that the DPP caucus would respect Hung's proposal to withdraw the KMT referendum.

"We shall do whatever is good for Taiwan and its people," Wang said.

Wang did not respond to Hung's request that the DPP drop its own referendum bid. He said, however, that DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) had proposed that the DPP's referendum proposal be combined with the KMT's.

CEC Secretary-General Teng Tien-yu (鄧天祐), meanwhile, told the Taipei Times that the KMT "cannot withdraw the referendum proposal."

"According to Article 11 of the Referendum Act, a referendum may only be withdrawn before [the CEC] has asked [the initiators of a referendum] to submit petition signatures," he said.

A referendum proposal must first be submitted to the CEC with signatures of more than 0.5 percent of the number of voters qualified to vote in the last presidential election.

After the CEC approves the proposal, the original petitioner must then send a petition signed by more than 5 percent of the number of voters qualified to vote in the last presidential election. The petitioner can only withdraw the referendum proposal before the second part of the process has begun.

"The KMT has already handed in the signatures and we're almost done checking them," Teng said. "It's too late to take it back."

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY LOA IOK-SIN
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