Penghu residents may have to decide in a referendum whether to allow casinos to open in their hometowns.
More than 5,000 signatures of eligible voters in the county have been collected, surpassing the minimum threshold of 4,114 signatures — 5 percent of the total number of eligible voters — required for a referendum to be held, said Chen Meng (陳猛), the convener of an alliance that is pushing for the legalization of gambling in Penghu.
As soon as the number of signatures reaches its goal of 6,000, the alliance plans to send them to the county’s election commission for review, Chen said, adding that preparations for the referendum would be made after the review is completed and 100 public hearings are held.
“At the earliest, the second referendum on gambling is likely to take place before the end of the year,” Chen said.
In the first referendum, held on Sept. 26, 2009, a total of 17,369 votes, or 56.44 percent of the total valid ballots, were cast against the proposition, while 13,397, or 43.56 percent, supported it.
Under the Referendum Act (公民投票法), the same proposal cannot be raised within three years.
Gambling is not allowed in Taiwan proper, but the legislature passed an amendment to the Offshore Islands Development Act (離島建設條例) in January 2009 allowing outlying islands to establish tourist casinos if their residents agree to it through a referendum.
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