Although more than 61 percent of voters in Pingtung County’s Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) voted in favor of reactivating the area’s Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant on Saturday, there was a general lack of interest in the issue among locals, a long-time observer of Pingtung politics said yesterday.
As the Hengchun Peninsula is home to the power plant, referendum results in the area have been closely watched nationwide.
On the peninsula, 7,211 residents voted in favor of the referendum, 4,103 of which were in Hengchun (恆春), 1,106 in Checheng (車城), 896 in Manjhou (滿州) and 1,106 in Mudan (牡丹) townships.
Of the 4,640 votes against it, 2,658 came from Hengchun, 881 from Checheng, 882 from Manjhou and 219 from Mudan.
In a 2021 referendum to restart the construction of the mothballed Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮), 6,179 Hengchun Peninsula residents voted “yes,” while 6,728 voted “no.”
In Hengchun Township, 707 more people, or about 21 percent more, voted for Saturday’s referendum compared with the 3,396 in 2021. The number of supporters in the other townships did not show a significant change.
However, the number of residents who voted “no” fell by 40 percent this year, indicating that a majority of residents chose to sit out the referendum.
The Executive Yuan and the opposition parties should focus on improving the economy rather than engaging in conflict, said a senior resident surnamed Chang (張), who has been heavily involved in local elections for nearly 30 years.
Chang said he was not surprised that more people in Hengchun Township supported reactivating the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant, as many residents worked in the plant and felt an attachment to it.
However, Saturday’s referendum was politically charged, as the opposition parties used it to give President William Lai (賴清德) a black eye, he said.
Following a major setback in the July 26 recall elections — in which none of the 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) up for recall lost their seats — many pan-green camp supporters seemed to have given up on any chance of a better outcome on Saturday, and chose to stay home, he said.
“The Hengchun Peninsula failed to attract many tourists this summer. Lawmakers across party lines have grievances. People have shown great tolerance for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party by not voting,” he said.
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