The Control Yuan yesterday said it would look into allegations of misconduct by members of the Referendum Review Committee after it rejected an opposition party-supported referendum proposal earlier this month.
Officials from the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) yesterday asked the government watchdog to determine if review committee members had overstepped their jurisdiction when they voted down their proposal to hold a public vote on an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China.
In a 12-to-four ruling earlier this month, the committee ruled that the TSU referendum question was violated Article 14, Section 1.4 under the Referendum Act (公民投票法) because of a contradiction in its content.
Speaking in front of the Control Yuan, TSU Secretary-General Lin Chih-chia (林志嘉) said the rejection was a “clear and illegal intrusion on the jurisdiction of the Central Election Commission [CEC],” adding that the decision “was an affront to basic human rights.”
The TSU has publicized an Executive Yuan notice dated April 16, 2004, saying that only the CEC is responsible for ruling on whether referendum proposals fulfilled Article 14 of the Referendum Act.
If true, this could invalidate the review commission decision because the CEC ruled on May 4 that there was no conflict between the referendum proposal and any parts under Article 14, Section 1 of the act.
Committee chairman Chao Yung-mau (趙永茂) denied the allegations, saying the committee was entitled to determine whether the TSU proposal complied with Article 14 even after the CEC had already reviewed it.
He also said that Article 14 was only one of the several reasons why the committee rejected the TSU proposal.
“The [12 committee members] knew the law, but they violated it regardless. It’s a very serious case and has resulted in them making the wrong decision, which concerns the basic rights of the people,” TSU Chairperson Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) said in the TSU’s written request to the Control Yuan asking it to investigate the issue.
Receiving their request, Control Yuan member Chao Chang-ping (趙昌平) said they took the matter seriously and would respond to the TSU accusations.
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