A political pressure group yesterday called on voters to boycott the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in the upcoming elections, arguing that political parties that oppose amendments to the Referendum Law (公投法) do not deserve to be supported.
The Nuke-4 Referendum Initiative Association expressed its disappointment with the KMT, which it said had teamed up with other opposition parties to enact a restrictive Referendum Law in November 2003.
Chief executive Iap Phok-bun (
In March last year, the association launched a petition asking the electorate to pressure their local representatives to revise the Referendum Law.
In October, the association began sending letters to legislators and visiting their offices. Except for Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬), Iap said all DPP and Taiwan Solidarity Union legislators had endorsed the association's proposal.
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), who doubles as DPP chairman, and DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) had also given the association their backing, Iap said.
The KMT, on the other hand, has been resistant, except for Chiang Yi-hsiung (江義雄), Iap said.
Iap said the association had sent five letters to KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and three letters to KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄), requesting a meeting to discuss the matter. Neither of the men had responded, Iap said.
Iap urged voters to boycott the KMT in both the legislative and presidential elections.
"The KMT simply lacks the spirit of democracy and does not deserve to exist in a democracy such as Taiwan," he said. "They ignore the rights of the people and do not deserve the public's votes."
Iap, however, did not endorse Hsieh. He said that the association only wanted the electorate to boycott those who disregard the rights of the people.
"[Our ultimate aim] is not to boycott the KMT in the elections, but raise public awareness of the people. We want the public to realize that they are the real masters of the country," he said.
Arguing that high thresholds hinder the exercise of democracy, the association has proposed to lower the threshold required for a referendum petition to pass from 80,000 voters -- or 0.5 percent of eligible voters in the last presidential election -- to 100.
It also seeks to lower the second threshold for a referendum proposal from 800,000 voters -- or 5 percent of eligible voters in the last presidential election -- to 240,000 voters, or 1.5 percent.
The association also proposed the abolition of the Referendum Review Committee and the lowering of the number of voters required to make a referendum valid from 50 percent to 25 percent.
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