One spillover effect of voters using ballots to punish the ruling party — the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) — was the failure to pass a proposed constitutional amendment to grant Taiwanese aged 18 years or older the right to vote and the right to run for public office, academics said yesterday.
The referendum needed 9,619,697 “yes” votes to pass, but the Central Election Committee (CEC) data showed that the voter turnout was 58.97 percent, with 5,647,102 voting “yes” and 5,016,427 voting “no” for the proposal.
The data showed that in all six special municipalities, the “yes” side won over the “no” side in votes, but only by a slight margin.
Photo: Liao Yao-tung, Taipei Times
There were more “yes” votes than “no” votes in eight cities and counties, including Hsinchu County, Miaoli County, Nantou County, Hualien County, Taitung County, Kinmen County, Lienchiang County and Keelung.
In the five cities and counties where the DPP won in the race for mayor or commissioner — Chiayi County, Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung County and Penghu County — the “yes” votes exceeded the “no” votes.
The cities or counties with the highest percentage of “yes” votes among eligible voters were Chiayi County (33.84 percent), Pingtung County (33.78 percent), Taipei (32.48 percent), Yilan County (32.45 percent) and Yunlin County (32.42 percent).
The other approval rates in other cities and counties ranged from 20 to 30 percent, with the exception of Kinmen County, which was only 10.65 percent.
The proposed voting age amendment was supported by legislators across party lines, but it failed to pass the national referendum.
Soochow University law professor Hu Po-yen (胡博硯) said a possible reason is that many traditional pan-blue camp voters believe young people mostly support the DPP, so they are concerned about losing support by allowing 18-year-olds vote.
Also, some voters appeared to use their ballots to punish the DPP, so they might have voted against the DPP’s preference in the referendum, he said.
As each political party had supported the referendum and there was no opposition, the issue failed to create public discussion, Hu added.
Chu Chao-hsiang (曲兆祥), a professor at National Taiwan Normal University’s Graduate Institute of Political Science, said although the “yes” votes exceeded the “no” votes, it could be misleading, as voters who were against the proposal could have refused to receive their referendum ballot.
There are also some people — in pan-blue and pan-green camps, mostly elderly people — who are concerned that 18-year-olds are not mature enough to vote or run for elected positions, Chu said.
More than 10 million people voted in the referendum, but the result indicated that Taiwanese society is still undecided on the issue, DPP Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) said.
The threshold for the constitutional amendment is very high and difficult to pass, he added.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip William Tseng (曾銘宗) said granting voting and civil rights to 18-year-olds is a global norm, and the referendum proposal was supported by legislators across party lines, but there were many “no” votes on Saturday, implying that society does not have a consensus on the issue.
DPP Legislator Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟), who lobbied for the amendment, said that although most democratic countries grant 18-year-olds suffrage, Taiwan’s democracy is relatively young, having endured for only about 30 years.
However, having more “yes” than “no” votes can be considered progress, Chao added.
Asked if the proposal could be introduced again, Lo said it could be difficult to gain enough support in a short time, and Tseng said it must be pushed for again, but more planning and communication with residents would be needed.
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
BETTER SERVICE QUALITY: From Nov. 10, tickets with reserved seats would only be valid for the date, train and route specified on the ticket, THSRC said Starting on Nov. 10, high-speed rail passengers with reserved seats would be required to exchange their tickets to board an earlier train. Passengers with reserved seats on a specific train are currently allowed to board earlier trains on the same day and sit in non-reserved cars, but as this is happening increasingly often, and affecting quality of travel and ticket sales, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced that it would be canceling the policy on Nov. 10. It is one of several new measures launched by THSRC chairman Shih Che (史哲) to improve the quality of service, it said. The company also said
RSS