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Presidential election 2008: 16 days to go: KMT legislators to propose boycott of UN plebiscites

Although the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has not decided whether to boycott the two planned referendums on the nation's UN bid, five KMT legislators yesterday said they would propose a boycott during the party's Central Standing Committee meeting next Wednesday.

At a press conference, KMT legislators Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), Kuo Su-chun (郭素春), Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔), Diane Lee (李慶安) and Liao Wan-ju (廖婉汝) said the nation must "stop political bickering, rebuild the government apparatus and political culture and reach a consensus on how to boost the economy."

They urged their party to support their proposal to boycott both referendums so as to simplify the presidential election.

Hung presented the results of a survey they had commissioned to SET-TV. Hung said the survey showed that 76.6 percent of respondents want presidential candidates to focus more on how to improve the living standard and quality of education, and not on the UN referendums.

A total of 41.4 percent of the respondents said that the UN referendums were a non-issue, while only 19 percent regarded the referendums as being of importance, she said.

Hung said that 1,070 people participated in the survey, which was conducted from Sunday to Tuesday.

Lee said the results indicated that voters were opposed to holding the UN referendums in conjunction with the presidential poll.

Hung launched a similar campaign on Dec. 25 to boycott two other referendums -- one proposed by the DPP on recovering the KMT's stolen assets and the other one proposed by the KMT on empowering the legislature to investigate the president -- that were held in conjunction with January's legislative elections.

One week after Hung's suggestion, KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) called on voters to boycott the two January plebiscites, saying that referendums had become a tool to provoke conflict.

Wu has not commented on whether the KMT will boycott the two UN referendums.

However, at a campaign workshop last Saturday, former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) urged the party to make a "proper" decision as soon as possible. Lien criticized the Central Election Commission for scheduling the UN referendums for the same day as the presidential election.
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