Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) yesterday argued in favor of holding referendums concurrently with elections, while Deputy Minister of the Interior Chen Tsung-yen (陳宗彥) argued against in the first televised debate of the four referendum questions to be put to voters on Dec. 18.
Chiang criticized the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for amending the law in 2019 to separate referendum voting from national elections, after it had been amended only three years earlier to tie the two together.
The DPP reversed its position so that it could consolidate its electoral outlook last year ahead of presidential elections, he said.
Chiang said that former DPP legislator Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮) and former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) had both spoken in favor of tying referendum voting to nationwide elections, adding that then-DPP chairman You Si-kun (游錫堃) said in 2008 that holding the two on the same day is normal in a modern democracy, while in 2013 then-DPP chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) also said that combining voting in this way saves resources.
Unlinking the two resulted in lowering the voting and passage rate of referendums, which was a form of interference in the democratic process, and a contravention of the spirit of the constitution, he said.
Defending the government’s position, Chen said that the combined voting of referendums and national elections in 2018 was a “painful experience,” with some localities trying to hold voting on nine public-office positions and 10 referendums at the same time.
The pressure on those monitoring elections and counting votes had been a burden, he said.
“The nature of public-office voting is different from that of referendum voting. One is choosing government representatives, while the other is a discussion on an issue and handling of that issue,” he said. “This has nothing to do with a party winning anything, it is about the future of the nation’s development.”
A smooth voting process that allows comprehensive discussion on key national issues was in the best interest of democracy, he said.
The last session yesterday was held between environmentalist Chen Hsien-cheng (陳憲政) and Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) on whether the country’s third liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal should be relocated from its current site on the algal reef coast in Taoyuan.
Chen, who spoke in favor of relocation, said the issue is linked with ecological concerns, the issue of transitioning to green energy and the effects of climate change that “would affect Taiwan’s environment 50 or 100 years later.”
More than 80 percent of the coast on western Taiwan is covered with concrete, or exhibit signs of overdevelopment, and the proposal to move the LNG plant further from shore would cause a jetty effect and exacerbate corrosion effects on the coast, he said.
The government should relocate the third LNG terminal elsewhere, such as Taipei, Linkou or Mailiao harbors, he said, adding that these locations would allow the government to meet its goals to transition to alternative sources of power such as LNG while ensuring that Taiwan’s coast is preserved.
Wang said that moving the terminal would hurt Taiwan’s continued economic growth, which relies on increased power consumption.
Semiconductor manufacturing has seen a 2.5 percent increase in power consumption this year, up from the 1.3 percent over the past decade, Wang said, adding that relocating the LNG terminal would affect Taiwan’s power grid.
Wang urged voters to reject the relocation, and said that the present plans for the terminal — one-third of which has already been completed — would not affect algal patches near the coast.
“We cannot guarantee zero impact, but we have done our best to provide maximum protection for the algal reefs,” she added.
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