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Presidential election 2008: 21 days to go: New Party solicits KMT's support for referendum boycott

The head of the New Party, an offshoot of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), is seeking support from the KMT in urging voters to boycott two referendums to be held alongside the March 22 presidential election.

New Party Chairman Yok Mu-ming (郁慕明) told reporters on Thursday that he had met with KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) to discuss the issue, but had not received a definite answer from him.

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) proposed the referendum on joining the UN using the name "Taiwan," while the KMT initiated one on "rejoining" the UN using the name "Republic of China" or any other "practical" title.

Yok said he would try to convince KMT legislators to support the proposed boycott.

"The New Party has indicated consistently that we will refuse to take part in the referendums, and we expressed our position clearly in a Feb. 26 advertisement, together with other civic groups," he said.

"Failure to pass the referendums would neither cause Taiwan to lose face, nor inflict any harm on the KMT," Yok said.

Taiwan would only lose face if it is still barred from entering the UN even if both referendums were passed, he said.

Yok and his party had also initiated a campaign to boycott two previous referendums tied to the Jan. 12 legislative elections. One of them, proposed by the DPP, was about recovering the KMT's stolen party assets, while the other, proposed by the KMT, was about empowering the legislature to investigate government corruption. Both were defeated because only 26 percent of the electorate took part in the voting.
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