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.
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper
The Chinese wife of a Taiwanese, surnamed Liu (劉), who openly advocated for China’s use of force against Taiwan, would be forcibly deported according to the law if she has not left Taiwan by Friday, National Immigration Agency (NIA) officials said yesterday. Liu, an influencer better known by her online channel name Yaya in Taiwan (亞亞在台灣), obtained permanent residency via marriage to a Taiwanese. She has been reported for allegedly repeatedly espousing pro-unification comments on her YouTube and TikTok channels, including comments supporting China’s unification with Taiwan by force and the Chinese government’s stance that “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China.” Liu
FATE UNKNOWN: The owner of the dog could face a fine of up to NT$150,000 and the animal could be euthanized if he cannot show that he can effectively supervise it A pit bull terrier has been confiscated by authorities after it yesterday morning bit a motorcyclist in Taipei, following footage of the same dog in a similar attack going viral online earlier this month. When the owner, surnamed Hsu (徐), stopped at a red light on Daan District’s (大安) Wolong Street at 8am, the dog, named “Lucky,” allegedly rolled down the automatic window of the pickup truck they were riding in, leapt out of the rear passenger window and attacked a motorcyclist behind them, Taipei’s Daan District Police Precinct said. The dog clamped down on the man’s leg and only let go
RSS