Citing a poll conducted by a government agency, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on Tuesday said that the majority of Taiwanese oppose lowering the voting age and support the economic liberalization espoused by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), as well as the passage of the controversial cross-strait service trade agreement in the upcoming extraordinary legislative session.
At a KMT meeting on Tuesday, Ma, who doubles as party chairman, reportedly ordered the party caucus to quickly pass the service trade pact, citing a recent poll conducted by the National Development Council that found that 47 percent of respondents called for a review of the pact “as soon as possible.”
According to the council’s survey, 41 percent of respondents support the service trade pact, while 28 percent oppose it, and 47 percent agree that the pact should be reviewed as soon as possible, while 29 percent want the legislature to retract it.
The council said 68 percent of those surveyed support the institutionalization of a cross-strait agreement oversight mechanism, while less than 10 percent oppose the idea.
The president also said a proposal to amend the Constitution to lower the voting age runs against mainstream opinion because the survey shows that at least 55 percent of respondents oppose lowering the voting age.
The council said only 34 percent of respondents to the poll support a constitutional amendment to lower the voting age from 20 to 18.
While the president reportedly criticized the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), asking the party not to misinterpret public opinion, DPP lawmakers were not alone in calling for a lower voting age.
KMT Legislator Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) proposed the amendment last month along with two DPP legislators, saying that the idea has garnered wide cross-party support.
The council said the poll collected 1,088 valid samples on May 23 and May 24 and had a margin of error of 2.97 percentage points.
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