The party coffers of the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) have been running precariously close to empty because the party is organizing a petition calling for a referendum on a government trade pact with China, party sources revealed.
The opposition party has spearheaded efforts to demand a referendum on the economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) that the government hopes to sign with China next month, citing its impact on Taiwan’s economy and labor market.
However, sources at the party told the Taipei Times that the costs of the process had been much higher than anticipated and that there were now concerns the TSU might be unable to pay staff salaries next month.
PHOTO: CNA
“None of us at the TSU expected the government to suddenly decide to sign an ECFA this year,” said a high-ranking TSU official who did not wish to be named. “It’s taken a huge toll on party finances.”
TSU Chairperson Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) has been traveling Taiwan in recent weeks in an attempt to drum up volunteer support in collecting signatures for the petition.
In a recent event in Hsinchu City, more than 20 volunteers pledged to each gather at least 100 signatures in support.
The TSU announced last month that it has already submitted 110,000 petition forms — of the 200,000 collected — to the Central Election Commission (CEC). The commission has since submitted the proposal to the Executive Yuan’s Referendum Review Committee, wohich will decide whether the referendum proposal proceeds to the second phase.
If approved by the review committee, a total of 860,000 signatures will have to be collected to complete the second phase.
Organizers said that based on their projections, the referendum could be tied to the year-end special municipality elections.
Although both pro-independence groups as well as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) have pledged to assist, TSU sources say the cost of the second phase could still easily amount to 10 times that of the first phase, which all but bankrupted the party.
“Petitioning for the referendum is an expensive process; we needed to buy advertisements, run flyers and print 200,000 forms. Everything quickly adds up ... We even had to hire a large number of part-time workers to file and sort through the paperwork,” the source said.
Information acquired from the party shows that it has an annual budget of NT$23 million (US$724,000), the vast majority coming from donations. Because of its the smaller size the TSU does not qualify for political party subsidies disbursed annually by the government.
The party usually schedules September and October as its two annual fundraising months when it plans fundraising dinners and events. That schedule has been brought forward this year, to raise additional funding to complete the referendum process.
However, because of the party’s opposition to an ECFA, which the government expects will benefit larger corporations, most of the TSU’s funding over the last two years has come from small personal donations.
“Despite our financial troubles, we can’t give up now. We will not back away from our duty, which is to give the public a say about this controversial agreement. We can only hope for the best,” the source said.
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