Anti-casino activists yesterday accused Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) of using the referendum system as a policy instrument, and demanded that the Executive Yuan withdraw the draft bill that would allow the establishment of gambling facilities in Matsu.
Jiang’s remarks on Monday that a national referendum on any issue, including the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮), should not circumvent the thresholds enshrined in the Referendum Act (公民投票法) prompted a protest by anti-casino activists yesterday.
“When the government wants to see a referendum pass, a simple majority vote is required, while when it wants to see a referendum fail, there is a very high turnout threshold,” former Green Party spokesperson Pan Han-shen (潘瀚聲) said as a group of activists staged a protest outside the Executive Yuan compound in Taipei.
Pan said that Jiang was lying when he said that controversial issues such as whether to abolish the death penalty or to legalize gambling or the sex trade should all be subject to the threshold of 50 percent of eligible voters under the Referendum Act.
The referendum held in 2009 in Penghu County and another referendum held in 2012 in Matsu County, both seeking residents’ views on whether to allow casino resorts in their hometowns, were decided by a simple majority in line with the Off-shore Islands Development Act (離島建設條例) rather than the Referendum Act, Pan said.
Following the referendum in Matsu that saw 1,795 votes in favor and 1,341 against among 3,164 ballots cast, or a turnout rate of 40.76 percent, the Executive Yuan proposed a draft statute in May last year as a legal basis to allow the building of a casino.
The draft statute is still pending deliberation in the legislature.
Given that Jiang was opposed to the proposal suggested by anti-nuclear activists that a referendum on the nuclear issue be decided by simple majority because that the result could be unconvincing, the 2012 referendum in Matsu should be deemed invalid and the draft act on casinos should be revoked, Pan said.
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