The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday conceded its previous insistence on a simple majority threshold in the referendum for the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant to appeal to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to end the hunger strike of anti-nuclear advocate Lin I-hsiung (林義雄).
The party proposed a threshold based on vote share, rather than turnout, requiring one-quarter of eligible votes to pass a anti-nuclear decision via the referendum.
This would require the anti-nuclear camp to secure about 5 million votes in a national referendum to halt the plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮).
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), accompanied by former chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), former premier Yu Shyi-kun (游錫堃) and officials of its legislative caucus, told a press conference that if Ma agreed and pledged to hold the referendum as soon as possible, Su would try to persuade Lin to scrap his hunger strike, which began on Tuesday.
The current referendum regulations require the participation of 50 percent of eligible voters, half of whom must cast a “yes” ballot for the referendum to pass.
Establishing the threshold based on vote share, rather than turnout, would allow both sides of the debate “equal opportunity” to garner support, Su said, and for the referendum to no longer be seen as a “birdcage” referendum.
Su, who met with Ma on Friday over the nuclear issue, but failed to reach consensus, urged Ma to resolve the decades-long dispute over the nuclear power plant this week as “Lin, given his age, cannot withstand another week of hunger strike,” as a mass antinuclear rally of tens of thousands of participants was held yesterday in Taipei.
Ma’s pledge on Friday — that the nuclear power plant should be completed and undergo its safety inspection, but would not go into operation until approved by referendum — violated the consensus the legislature reached in February last year, which demanded halting the budget allocation and construction of the plant, Su said.
Ma and the KMT had yet to respond to the new DPP proposal as of press time.
Meanwhile, Lin continued with his hunger strike at the Gikong Presbyterian Church in Taipei, where hundreds of supporters visited to show their respect. Lin was seen by the media from time to time when he went to the restroom.
The church was the site of the Lin family’s former residence, where his mother and twin daughters were murdered on Feb. 28, 1980, by unknown assailant(s).
His eldest daughter, then nine, survived the attack and the home was eventually converted into a church.
With Lin’s health on the mind of the supporters, rumors have been circulated that the government might cite the Administrative Execution Act (行政執行法) and the Emergency Medical Services Act (緊急醫療救護法) and enforce mandatory medical treatment should Lin fall into a coma.
DPP Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇), who served as Lin’s secretary when the murders occurred talked to Lin yesterday at the church.
She quoted Lin as saying that if the government tried to enforce the mandatory measure, he “does not rule out committing suicide.”
Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺), who visited the church on Tuesday, visited again yesterday evening, but failed to meet with Lin.
The premier had a brief talk with a pastor of the church, and expressed hope the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) latest decision on the power plant — not to continue the construction of the plant’s No. 1 reactor and have the construction of the No. 2 reactor “suspended — can be conveyed to Lin and that he can be persuaded to end his strike.
In related news, Tsai responded late on Saturday night to a KMT accusation that she had supported the construction of the power plant, saying that “the situation and the public’s attitude toward nuclear power” has changed a lot over the years.
Given the numerous errors, scandals and additional budget allocations, a majority of Taiwanese have formed a consensus about halting the construction, she said.
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