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Time is ripe for referendum reform
By Cheng Li-chiun 鄭麗君
Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) recently said that the Cabinet is
looking into the possibility of lowering the threshold for referendums. The fact
that the Cabinet is discussing this issue offers an opportunity to press for
reform.
It must be pointed out that the Referendum Act (公民投票法) not only fails to provide
an avenue for direct democracy, which is guaranteed by the Constitution, but it
places numerous obstacles in the way. The law’s defects are such that national
referendums have to surmount a great number of hurdles, and these same obstacles
are replicated in local government provisions for holding referendums on local
issues.
These laws and regulations are wrong on a local and national level. They are
legal shackles that tie down the public’s right to take decisions into their own
hands. These laws need to be thoroughly revised, and the sooner this is done,
the better.
Only one referendum proposal has been passed since the Act became law. This was
for a vote on casinos on Penghu that only got through because the legislature
decided that the Act did not apply. When the Democratic Progressive Party was in
government, some referendum proposals initiated by the president and by public
petition were put to a vote, but they all failed because the number of people
who voted did not reach the required threshold.
Article 30 of the Act says that the number of people voting in a referendum must
be at least 50 percent of all eligible voters, otherwise it will automatically
be considered a “no” vote. Considering that there is no such requirement for
elections for president or any other office, this threshold should be abolished.
In addition, the Act in reality only protects the right of powerful people — the
president and the legislative majority in certain cases — to initiate
referendums, while setting excessive thresholds for initiatives launched by the
general public.
Article 10 of the Act says that the number of signatures for a national
referendum proposal must be at least five out of every 1,000 eligible voters,
which in Taiwan is about 90,000 people. In the second stage of the endorsement
process, the proposers have to gather signatures from 5 percent of the
electorate — about 900,000 people — within six months in order for the
referendum to go ahead.
When compared with the much lower number of -signatures — 200,000 — required for
an independent candidate to stand in a presidential election, it becomes clear
that this rule is meant to make things difficult for the public. A referendum on
US beef imports proposed by the Consumers’ Foundation fell apart at the second
stage for this very reason.
The threshold number of signatures for proposing a referendum should be lowered
and consideration should also be given to allow government departments and
minority parties in the legislature to initiate referendums.
The US beef referendum proposal is not the only one to have failed since the
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) returned to power. Several attempts by members
of the public to propose a referendum on the government’s cross-strait Economic
Cooperation Framework Agreement were rejected by the Cabinet’s Referendum Review
Committee.
This committee consists of 21 people appointed by the government in accordance
with Article 35 of the Referendum Act. This is the most unreasonable condition
imposed by the act, as it allows those wielding authority to manipulate the
process and determine whether a referendum can go ahead or not. For that reason,
it should be abolished.
Next month’s elections in the soon-to-be five special -municipalities are almost
upon us. It has come to light that 11 counties and cities in Taiwan have set up
their own regulations for conducting local referendums, and they all copy the
same system that exists at the national level, with high thresholds for
initiating referendums, gathering signatures and for the number of people who
must take part in the final vote.
They also all require referendum proposals to be approved by referendum review
committees. For example, a proposal for a referendum on reviving the Yilan
International Children’s Folklore and Folkgame Festival proposed by people
living in Yilan County, was rejected by a referendum review committee appointed
by the KMT county government.
At the end of this year, when existing cities and counties are merged and
upgraded to form four new special municipalities, these places will have to
re-establish their regulations for holding referendums. The new municipal
governments should respond positively to popular demand for reform by
establishing progressive conditions for holding referendums. That would enable
referendum democracy to take root at the local level and be implemented in
people’s daily lives.
Cheng Li-chiun is chief executive officer of Taiwan ThinkTank.
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