A mock referendum by senior-high schools in Hsinchu City showed that students overwhelmingly support the hypothetical merger of Hsinchu city and county.
The mock referendum was organized by the student unions at the Hsinchu Girls’ Senior High School and the Hsinchu Senior High School.
On Friday, the student unions said that 466 students, or 12.34 percent of those enrolled in the two schools, voted.
Photo: Hung Mei-shiu, Taipei Times
The ballot asked the students to vote on whether to merge Hsinchu city and county, add Miaoli County to the hypothetical merger, resume construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮) and ban the importation of pork containing traces of ractopamine, the student unions said.
The participants had to vote in favor of or against the propositions. They could not abstain.
The proposal to consolidate Hsinchu city and county was supported by 63.47 percent of voters, while adding Miaoli County to the merger was only supported by 16 percent, the student unions said.
Resuming construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant was supported by 59.33 percent of voters, while a ban on pork imports with traces of ractopamine was supported by 54.44 percent of voters, they said.
Student votes on the issues ressemble polling by the nation’s political parties, they added.
The mock referendum was carried out to encourage student civic engagement, the unions said, adding that politicians should refrain from using the results in campaigning or advertisements.
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