Consumers’ Foundation chairman Hsieh Tien-jen (謝天仁) yesterday said a campaign to hold a national referendum on the import of US beef products had failed and alleged political meddling played a part in the unsuccessful bid.
The proposed referendum would ask voters to “veto the government’s decision in November to open Taiwan’s market to US bone-in beef, ground beef and bovine offal and spinal cords from cattle aged under 30 months” and demand that the government renegotiate the beef protocol with the US.
The initiative was prompted by a public outcry after the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government in October last year signed a protocol with the US to allow the import of bone-in beef and other beef products, including ground beef and offal, that had previously been banned because of fears over bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease.
After collecting 129,000 signatures in January to pass the first stage stipulated by the Referendum Act (公民投票法), which requires the initiator to obtain the endorsement of at least 0.5 percent, or 86,000, of the people eligible to vote in the previous presidential election, the campaign entered its second phase in February. Campaign organizers were given six months to collect at least 860,000 signatures before the proposal could be submitted to the Referendum Review Committee for a second review.
The Central Election Commission (CEC) will nullify the referendum proposal if the group cannot meet the threshold of 860,000 signatures by the deadline on Tuesday.
Hsieh yesterday said it had been difficult to collect enough signatures to pass the second stage, alleging that because of political forces, some medical groups that initially said they would help collect signatures later withdrew their support.
CEC Secretary-General Teng Tien-yu (鄧天祐) previously said that if the proposed referendum cleared the application process, it could be held concurrently with the year-end special municipality elections to cut costs. Some from the pan-blue camp expressed concern that the referendum could impact the KMT’s electoral outlook should it be held at the same time as the November polls.
Hsieh said the experience of campaigning for a national referendum had shown him that the Referendum Act is flawed.
“The thresholds are too high and the reviewing processes are too long,” he said, adding that it took almost two-and-a-half months for the CEC to walk through the logistics and verify the collected signatures, adding that by the time the foundation received notification to start the second stage, “the hotness of the issue had turned cold and the public’s enthusiasm had faded.”
“Factoring in the characteristics of the Taiwanese public, which tends to be oblivious to stuff like this, when it comes to this stage it has no momentum to keep it going,” he said, adding that the Referendum Act needs to be amended.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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