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Referendums in Taiwan in 2008 133
erendums was also higher (36.8% and 36.7%) than the
nationwide average (35.82% and 35.74%).
The results did not clearly bear out John C. Kuan’s
2004 assertion that referendums were the key to the
presidential election. However, the pattern of voting on
the two referendums in all counties and cities, except
Penghu County and Taichung County, again indicates
those that supported the Kuomintang showed lower
support for the referendums, while those that supported
the Democratic Progressive Party gave the referendums
a higher support.
IV. Conclusion
Six referendums have been held since 2004. None
of them were passed. One reason is that the threshold as
stipulated in the Referendum Law is too high, an absolute
majority of the electorate. But another reason is
that many voters refused to vote because they did not
want to go along with politicians who tried to take advantage
of the referendums for their political gains. In
other words, it is next to impossible to pass any referendum
in the future unless politicians give up attempts
to manipulate voters for their political gains.
If the sole purpose of holding a referendum is to
pass it, one easiest way is to reduce the threshold as
stipulated in the existing Referendum Law. As a matter
of fact, Peng Mon-an and 24 other Democratic Progressive
Party lawmakers have proposed a bill to amend the
Referendum Law at the new Legislative Yuan. They
want to let a referendum pass if aye votes outnumber
nay votes, the former being more than a quarter of the
electorate. That means the threshold will be halved
from a simple majority to a quarter of all eligible voters.
There is a counterproposal by their Kuomintang opposite
numbers, who control the Legislative Yuan. The
counterproposal is exactly the same as the opposition
party’s proposal with a meaningless change of “a quarter”
to “25 percent.”
However, the reduction of the threshold to 25 percent
or a quarter of the electorate may let a major political
party and interest groups get a controversial referendum
adopted with ease. Such a referendum, if
passed, will cause social unrest. That must be a very
serious concern with which the new Legislative Yuan
acts on the proposals to halve the threshold as set forth
in the existing Referendum Law.