Lawmakers yesterday approved amendments to the Referendum Act (公民投票法) to lower the legal voting age and slash the thresholds for initiating, seconding and passing referendums.
The Legislative Yuan yesterday reviewed several motions concerning seven disputed draft amendments.
A proposed amendment to Article 2, which states that issues stipulated in the Constitution — such as the nation’s official title and territory — are not to be decided through referendums, was passed with the support of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the People First Party caucuses.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
The New Power Party’s (NPP) motion to extend the scope of the act to cover the Constitution’s contents and to allow a new Constitution to be written was struck down.
The amended Article 2 also grants people the right to propose — through a referendum — laws to be considered by city or county councils, and to amend or abolish local government-level autonomous acts.
This is a step up from the former rule, which granted people the right to amend or abolish lower-level autonomous regulations, which do not need approval from city or county councils.
All four caucuses lent their support to a draft amendment of Article 7, which lowers the legal voting age for referendums from 20 to 18, allowing it to advance to the third reading without a vote.
The threshold for initiation of national and regional referendums has been lowered from 0.005 percent of the electorate in the most recent presidential election, or about 90,000, to 0.0001 percent, or about 1,800.
The number of signatures required for a proposed referendum to pass its second stage — 5 percent of all eligible voters in the most recent president election, or about 900,000 — has been reduced to 1.5 percent, or about 280,000.
For a referendum to pass, 25 percent of the eligible voters must vote "yes."
A motion tabled by the KMT on Monday, which set the threshold at 20 percent, was vetoed.
A DPP motion to amend Article 13 to grant the Executive Yuan the right to propose referendums on major policies, proposing or vetoing a law was passed.
The amended act includes a new provision that allows signature drives, which are necessary for a referendum, to be conducted online.
According to the provision, the lead initiator of a referendum should request an authentication code when filing a request for an online signature drive with the Central Election Commission.
A KMT motion to implement absentee voting for referendums failed to obtain a majority vote.
A draft amendment by the NPP that seeks to have the president propose topics of “political negotiations” with Beijing as topics to be voted on in referendums before such negotiations are conducted was vetoed.
The DPP and the KMT said that such a regulatory measure should be stipulated in the proposed act on supervising cross-strait agreements, which the DPP has put on the back-burner to avoid worsening cross-strait ties.
NPP Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) criticized the DPP over the outcome, saying its decision had forced President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to renege on a promise she made in 2011 during her first presidential election campaign to form a law on monitoring cross-strait political negotiations.
In response to the NPP’s proposals that the amendment should allow the public to vote on issues such as territorial changes and cross-strait negotiations, DPP spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka said those issues should be handled within the framework of the Constitution or a draft act on the cross-strait oversight mechanism.
While the KMT criticized the amendment for the exclusion of an absentee voting system, the DPP said it supports the idea of absentee voting and would legislate for its establishment with a separate law.
Additional reporting by Chen Wei-han
CONGRESSIONAL SUPPORT: A new committee would investigate a backlog of US weapons sales to Taiwan, said its chairman, US Representative Mike Gallagher The US should formally recognize Taiwan as an independent nation, and end its outdated and counterproductive “one China” policy, US Representative Tom Tiffany and 18 other US lawmakers wrote in a petition. “It is time to change the status quo and recognize the reality denied by the US government for decades: Taiwan is an independent nation,” Tiffany told the Epoch Times. “As our long-standing and valued partner, correctly acknowledging their independence from communist China is long overdue.” The resolution also asks the administration of US President Joe Biden to support Taiwan’s membership in international organizations and to negotiate a bilateral free-trade
GUT FEELING: In the leaked memo, US Air Force General Mike Minihan urged mobile command personnel to go to a firing range, shoot at a target and ‘aim for the head’ A four-star US Air Force general has warned of a conflict with China as early as 2025 — most likely over Taiwan — and urged his commanders to push their units to achieve maximum operational battle readiness this year. In an internal memorandum that first emerged on social media on Friday, and was later confirmed as genuine by the Pentagon, Air Mobility Command Commander General Mike Minihan said that the main goal should be to deter “and, if required, defeat” China. “I hope I am wrong. My gut tells me we will fight in 2025,” Minihan said. Minihan said that Taiwan’s presidential election
INCREASED RISK: The Omicron BA.2.75 subvariant has higher immune evasive capacity, but the CECC is more concerned about newer subvariants such as XBB and BQ.1 With the peak season for infectious respiratory diseases coming to an end, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday said that details of the next phase of lifting COVID-19 masking rules — removing the mask requirement in most indoor settings — are to be announced this week. Discussions on lifting other COVID-19 restrictions are also being held, including further easing border control measures, home isolation requirements and revising the definition for reporting cases, while also downgrading COVID-19 to a lower category of notifiable communicable disease, said Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the CECC. As the daily
DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM: Czech president-elect Petr Pavel said his nation stands firmly on the side of democracy and would boost cooperation with Taipei in all aspects Czech president-elect Petr Pavel spoke by telephone with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday, a highly unusual move given the lack of formal ties and a diplomatic coup for Taipei. Tsai spoke with Pavel for 15 minutes in a harmonious atmosphere, Presidential Office spokeswoman Lin Yu-chan (林聿禪) said, adding that Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) was also present during the conversation. Lin quoted Pavel as telling Tsai that Taiwan is a trustworthy partner, adding that the Czech Republic stands firmly on the side of democracy and supports Taiwan in maintaining a lively democratic system free from authoritarian coercion. The Czech Republic would
RSS