Sun, May 16, 2021 page2

• CEC approves three more referendums for August

  THE PEOPLE’S CHOICES: The referendums include two proposed by the KMT to end certain US pork imports and change how referendums are scheduled

  • Staff writer, with CNA
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  The Central Election Commission (CEC) on Friday approved three referendum proposals, bringing to four the number of national referendums to be held in August.

  The three proposals just added are about the protection of a coastal algal reef, pork imports containing traces of the leanness-enhancing drug ractopamine and referendum scheduling.

  Each of the referendum initiatives passed the second hurdle, which requires at least 289,667 endorsement signatures from eligible voters based on the most recent presidential election, the commission said.

  The vote on the referendums is to take place on Aug. 28, including one initiated by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Wei-chou (林為洲).

  The No. 18 referendum asks: “Do you agree to a total ban on the importation of pork and related products containing the beta agonist ractopamine?”

  The No. 19 referendum, initiated by KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣), asks: “Do you agree that a referendum should be held on the same day as a national election if the election is scheduled to take place within six months of a proposal to hold a referendum being approved?”

  The No. 20 referendum was initiated by Rescue Datan’s Algal Reefs Alliance convener Pan Chong-cheng (潘忠政) last year to protect algal reefs off Datan Borough (大潭) in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District (觀音) from the construction of CPC Corp, Taiwan’s (CPC) liquefied natural gas terminal.

  The referendum asks: “Do you agree that the CPC’s third liquefied natural gas terminal should be relocated from its planned site on the algal reef coast of Datan and its adjacent waters?”

  In December 2019, the commission approved a referendum initiated by nuclear power proponent Huang Shih-hsiu (黃士修).

  The No. 17 referendum asks: “Do you agree that the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant should be activated for commercial operations?”

  Proposed referendum initiatives must pass two phases. The first requires the signatures of 0.01 percent of the number of eligible voters in the most recent presidential election, which is 1,931 people based on the 19,311,105 people who were eligible to vote in last year’s president election.

  In the second stage, an initiative must collect the signatures of 1.5 percent of eligible voters in the most recent presidential election, or 289,667 people, for the referendum to be held.

  For a referendum to pass, at least 25 percent of eligible voters, or about 5 million, must vote for it, and votes for it must exceed votes against it.

  Under the Referendum Act (公民投票法), referendums can only take place every two years on the fourth Saturday in August.

  The CEC said that it would hold five opinion presentations or debate events for each referendum on a national broadcast television channel from July 24 to Aug. 21.

  Those interested in debating in favor of a referendum proposal can sign up with the referendum initiators while those against can register with the CEC, it said.
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