The Nuke-4 Referendum Initiative Association (
Association executive general Iap Phok-bun (葉博文) yesterday said the visits to each political party are intended to urge lawmakers to fulfill their promises to pass the legislature downsizing bill. The bill was originally expected to be passed before March 19 this year, but failed due to opposition from independent lawmakers who demanded the bill undergo additional cross-party negotiations, which will be finished by July 19.
The legislature has yet to decide whether to open an extra legislative sitting, which if convened, is likely to be held later this month or early next month.
PHOTO: YEH CHIH-MIN, TAIPEI TIMES
During the first of the association's visits to each political party, Iap yesterday said the association wishes that lawmakers from across party lines will work together to pass the legislature downsizing bill during the extra session. Otherwise, Iap said, the association will stage demonstrations at the Legislative Yuan after the July 19 deadline.
The association, led by former DPP chairman Lin I-hsiung (
"We simply want the lawmakers to keep their promises. After all, this bill was jointly supported by all the parties of the pan-green and pan-blue camps two years ago. They just have to keep their word on this matter," Iap said yesterday.
TSU Secretary-General Lin Chih-chia (
Lin said the legislature downsizing plan involves amending the Constitution, which is an extremely difficult task with a pan-blue dominated legislature.
The association yesterday also urged political parties to revise the Referendum Law, which has "gross flaws" that infringe on citizens' rights to initiatives and referendums.
Iap said the Referendum Law has five major flaws, including setting up a Referendum Review Committee comprised proportionally of members of political parties according to their party's representation in the Legislative Yuan, in order to screen proposed referendum topics and to make rules for implementing referendums after their approval.
The design of such a committee overrides the people's right to referendum, as there should be no limitations posed on the topics allowed for a referendum, he said.
Therefore, the committee should be abolished, Iap said.
In addition, Iap criticized the threshold for holding a referendum, saying that the 0.5 percent of registered electorate's signatures that is required before a successful referendum petition can be made is too high. He said the signatures of only 1.5 percent of the number of registered voters who take part in the legislative election held prior to a presidential election are required to register a presidential candidate. The requirement for a referendum shouldn't be any more strict than a presidential election, which is supposed to be the country's most important election, Iap said.
As for the percentage of registered voters' signatures needed to validate a referendum, Iap said the current requirement of 50 percent of the electorate needed to validate a referendum is too high, and the percentage should be lowered to 30 percent.
TSU Secretary-General Lin yesterday said the party backs each of the points the association raised and would list the revision of the Referendum Law as one of the issues in the December legislative campaign.
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