Promotion of a referendum to lower the voting age to 18 should be stepped up, as polls show that if the vote were to take place today, it would fail by at least 2 million votes, voter rights groups said yesterday.
The referendum is to be held alongside the nine-in-one elections on Nov. 26, the first time a referendum is to decide whether the Constitution will be amended.
A poll commissioned by the groups showed that only 39.5 percent of respondents supported the issue and plan to vote in November, which would mean that the referendum would fall 10.5 percentage points short — or 2 million votes — of the 50 percent threshold to pass, Forward Alliance founder Enoch Wu (吳怡農) said.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
The poll showed that 53.3 percent of respondents were unaware that the referendum would be held alongside the nine-in-one elections, Wu said.
More than half of the respondents in the 20-to-29, 30-to-39 and 70-plus age brackets support lowering the voting age, while the majority in the 40-49 and 50-59 age brackets did not support the initiative, Wu said.
Support in the special municipalities was highest in Tainan and lowest in Taichung, he said.
Wu said that 92.5 percent of respondents who identified with the Taiwan Statebuilding Party backed lowering the voting age, with thise supporting the Democratic Progressive Party the second-largest block at 73.6 percent.
The poll showed that 47.9 percent of respondents who support the New Power Party backed a yes vote, with 37.6 percent against, the Taiwan People’s Party had 40.4 percent in favor and 54.5 percent against, while the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) had 29.8 percent in support and 62.4 percent against, he said.
Allowing 18-year-olds to vote is not only an issue of keeping up with global trends, but also an issue of justice and fairness, as those aged 18 to 19 have the obligations of citizenship, but not its rights, Wu said.
Men aged 18 must perform mandatory military service, but cannot vote, he said.
If parties want to support the referendum, they should inform their supporters about the details of the vote, Wu said.
Taiwan Youth Association for Democracy president Chang Yu-meng (張育萌) said that groups volunteering to promote the referendum have found that many older people are not aware that it is happening.
The Central Election Commission and parties should step up their efforts to make sure people know about the referendum, Chang said.
Focus Survey Research conducted the poll from Aug. 11 to 13 via telephone interviews and targeted people aged 20 or older. It garnered 1,519 valid responses at a confidence level of 95 percent and has a margin of error of 2.51 percentage points.
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
IN FULL SWING: Recall drives against lawmakers in Hualien, Taoyuan and Hsinchu have reached the second-stage threshold, the campaigners said Campaigners in a recall petition against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) in Taichung yesterday said their signature target is within sight, and that they need a big push to collect about 500 more signatures from locals to reach the second-stage threshold. Recall campaigns against KMT lawmakers Johnny Chiang (江啟臣), Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔) and Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋) are also close to the 10 percent threshold, and campaigners are mounting a final push this week. They need about 800 signatures against Chiang and about 2,000 against Yang. Campaigners seeking to recall Lo said they had reached the threshold figure over the
RSS