TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The TPP and KMT has passed a third reading of an amendment to Taiwan’s Referendum Act, which will allow referendums to be held concurrently with national elections.
The TPP received the support of KMT lawmakers to amend Article 23 of the Referendum Act with a vote of 56 to 44. The amendment stipulates that referendum votes may be scheduled anytime within a three to six month period after the Central Election Commission (CEC) approves the referendum, Newtalk reported.
However, if a national or municipal election is scheduled within the proposed one to six month period, the referendum should be scheduled on the same day, per UDN. In 2019, Article 23 of the Referendum Act was amended to stipulate that all public referendums shall be scheduled for the fourth Saturday in August every odd numbered year to avoid coinciding with election years.
Once the amendment is promulgated by the Executive Yuan, Taiwan’s public referendum system will return to pre-2019 regulations effectively tying referendums to election days. DPP legislators and CEC officials voiced their opposition to the amendment citing the 2018 election in which an excessive number of referendums were scheduled. This resulted in confusion for voters and a disorderly ballot counting process.
DPP Caucus whip Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) opposed the measure and offered a counter proposal if the opposition insists on tying referendums to elections. Chung suggests adding an additional national holiday the day before elections to allowing voters and the CEC to have more time to manage referendum votes.
Some KMT members were skeptical that the amendment might delay the tallying of results for both referendums and elections, NOW News reported. However, KMT lawmakers rejected Chung’s proposal for an additional national holiday, arguing instead that if necessary, the CEC can postpone announcing results until the day after voting.
