2021 Taiwanese referendum

Last updated

2021 Taiwanese referendum
Flag of the Republic of China.svg
18 December 2021
Voting systemAmendment is ratified if votes in favour exceed a quarter of eligible voters (4,956,367) and votes not in favour.
OutcomeAll defeated
Restarting nuclear power plant construction
Yes
 
47.16%
No
 
52.84%
Banning ractopamine-contained pork imports
Yes
 
48.79%
No
 
51.21%
Holding referendums alongside elections
Yes
 
48.96%
No
 
51.04%
Keeping natural gas terminal out of algal reefs
Yes
 
48.37%
No
 
51.63%

A four-question referendum was held in Taiwan on 18 December 2021. The vote was originally scheduled to take place on 28 August 2021, but was postponed to December due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [1] All four questions were popular initiatives. According to the Referendum Act, referendums can be held once every two years on the fourth Saturday of August and questions must gather a number of signatures equivalent to 1.5% of eligible voters (280,000) in order to qualify. [2] [3]

All four proposals were rejected. [4]

In Hsinchu, a local referendum  [ zh ] on the issue of wastewater management was passed. [5] [6] Subsequently, on 15 April 2022, the Hsinchu City Council passed the Hsinchu City Ordinance on Wastewater Discharge. [7]

Scheduling

Following the amendments to the Referendum Act passed in June 2019, [8] [9] some of which set aside a designated day for referendums, specifying that referendums can be held once every two years on the fourth Saturday of August, referendums were scheduled for 28 August 2021. The threshold to initiate referendum questions had previously been lowered to valid signatures of 1.5 percent of eligible voters in a set of amendments passed in June 2017. [10] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan, the Central Election Commission announced on 2 July 2021 that the referendum would be postponed until 18 December 2021. [11] [12]

In the 2021 Taiwanese referendum, there were four questions, [13] numbered 17 to 20 to account for numbered questions in previous referendums. The first question to have passed the qualification threshold, in January 2021, considered the activation of the Lungmen Nuclear Power Plant. [14] The three other questions on the referendum were certified by the Central Election Commission in May 2021. [15] [16] The largest opposition party, Kuomintang, offered support for two of the referendum questions, actively gathering signatures regarding ractopamine in imported pork, and future referendum scheduling. [17]

Questions

The questions range from No.17–20, including the issues of nuclear plant activation, a ban on ractopamine-containing pork imports, an algae reef and LNG receiving station, and referendums being held at the same time as nationwide elections. [18]

According to Article 29 of the Referendum Act, a referendum is passed if the valid ballots in favor exceed the ballots against, and the valid ballots in favor exceeds 25% of the eligible electorate. [19] For the 2021 referendum, the 25% threshold is equivalent to 4,956,367 votes. [20]

Nuclear plant

The No. 17 question, and the first to have passed the threshold, considered the activation of the Lungmen Nuclear Power Plant, the fourth nuclear power plant in Taiwan, which is located in New Taipei City. The plant was under construction until 2014, when it was shut down by the ruling Kuomintang due to concerns about the safety of nuclear power in the country. The policy has been maintained by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party as it planned to phase out all nuclear energy by 2025. The policy is heavily criticized by proponents of nuclear power, which lead to the inclusion of a question on the abandonment of the nuclear power termination plan in the 2018 referendum, in which results favoured the continued operation of nuclear plants in the country. [21] [22] [23]

The ballot read: "Do you agree the activation of Taiwan's mothballed Fourth Nuclear Power Plant?". [24]

Ban on ractopamine-containing pork imports

The No. 18 question on the referendum has considered attempts to impose restrictions on the import of ractopamine-containing pork. Critics argued that ractopamine is an additive illegal in 160 countries due to food safety concerns and that its import could damage local producers. [25] [17] The opposition of the issue worries that the ban on the imports of ractopamine porks could potentially damage the international relationships and trade agreements of Taiwan, specifically the application of joining the CPTPP as well as Taiwan–United States relationship. [26] [27]

The ballot read: "Do you agree that government should put a ban of the importation of pork, internal organs and pork products containing ractopamine (β-adrenergic receptor agonists)?" [24]

Referendum dates

The No. 19 question asked whether referendums should be held alongside general elections if a referendum proposal is confirmed less than six months before a general election. The question was proposed by the Kuomintang, arguing that holding referendums alongside general elections would attract higher vote turnouts. [17] The Democratic Progressive Party cited logistical issues during the ten-question 2018 referendum, held concurrently with local elections, in opposition to this proposal. [28]

The ballot read: "Do you agree within six months from the date the referendum be announced establishment, if there is a national election take place during the period, and in accordance with the provisions of the Referendum Act, that the referendum shall be held in conjunction with the national election?" [24]

Algae reef protection

The No. 20 question referred to the construction of the Guantang LNG Terminal in Taoyuan's Datan Algal Reef. It is argued as necessary by the government as part of its fossil fuel phase-out plan but heavily criticized by environmental activists due to potential damage to the reef and its eco-system. [29] [30]

The ballot read: "Do you agree to relocate the construction site of CPC Third LNG Receiving Terminal away from the coastal and sea areas of Taoyuan's Datan Algae Reef? (The coastal area from the estuary of Guanyin River in the north to the estuary of Xinwu River in the south, and the sea area stretching out five kilometers parallelly alongside the lowest tide line of the aforementioned coast.)" [24]

Campaign

Political parties' stances on every referendum questions
Political PartiesQuestion
17181920
Democratic Progressive Party [31] ✖✖✖✖
Kuomintang [32] ✔✔✔✔
Taiwan People's Party [33] ➖✔➖✔
New Power Party [34] ✖✔✔✔
People First Party [35] ➖✔➖➖
Taiwan Statebuilding Party [36] ✖✖✖✖
Green Party Taiwan [37] ✖✖✔✖
New Party [38] ✔✔✔✔

Results

All four proposals were rejected. Turnout was just over 41%, with valid ballots in favor on each question numbering between 19% and 20% of the total registered voters, short of the required 25% for a valid result. [39]

QuestionForAgainstInvalid/
blank		TotalRegistered
voters		TurnoutOutcome
Votes%Votes%
17. Restarting construction on the 4th nuclear power plant3,804,75547.164,262,45152.8478,4948,145,70019,825,46841.09Rejected
18. Banning pork imports containing ractopamine3,936,55448.794,131,20351.2178,1088,145,86541.09Rejected
19. Holding referendums alongside nation-wide elections3,951,88248.964,120,03851.0473,2738,145,19341.08Rejected
20. Keeping the third liquid natural gas terminal in Taoyuan out of algal reefs3,901,17148.374,163,46451.6380,8198,145,45441.09Rejected
Source: CEC, [24] Central News Aency [40]

Reactions

An article from The Wall Street Journal says that the result is welcoming to the Biden administration, which has pursued closer ties to Taiwan, saying that the vote on the pork imports could have complicated the Taiwanese relationship with Washington. [41]

Another article from NHK reports that the election was originally positioned by the opposing Kuomintang party as a non-confidence vote against the ruling government. Much to the party's dismay, the results turned out to be a vote of confidence. [42]

Foxconn CEO Terry Gou warned that "In the next year (2022), there must be power outages/electricity crisis in Taiwan," since the proposals about the activation of Fourth Nuclear Power Plant has been rejected by referendum. Nuclear advocate Huang Shih-hsiu said that he regretted the results, and accused the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of taking advantage of its administrative resources to manipulate the vote. [43] [44]

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References

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  4. ↑ 陳俊華 (18 December 2021). "公投開票4案全遭否決 不同意均破400萬、投票率41%【圖表】" (in Chinese). Taiwan. Central News Agency. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  5. ↑ 魯鋼駿 (14 December 2021). "新竹市有第5張公投票全台唯一 媽媽們訴求「喝好水」拚10萬人同意" (in Chinese). Taiwan. Central News Agency. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
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  7. ↑ Hung, Mei-hsiu; Chung, Jake (16 April 2022). "Hsinchu approves management of wastewater bill". Taipei Times. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
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  13. ↑ "Taiwan's Referendum Mayhem". The Diplomat. Retrieved 26 March 2021..
  14. ↑ Yu, Hsiang; Hsu, Elizabeth (21 January 2021). "Nuclear power plant referendum set to take place in August" . Retrieved 4 July 2021.
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  16. ↑ "Taiwan approves three referendums with pork, energy at top of list". Reuters. 14 May 2021. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  17. 1 2 3 Chen, Chun-hua; Yeh, Joseph (9 March 2021). "KMT submits signatures backing two referendum proposals". Central News Agency. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
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  23. ↑ "Is Taiwan's nuclear policy dividing the nation?". Policy Forum. 3 March 2020. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
  24. 1 2 3 4 5 "CEC". Archived from the original on 18 December 2021. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
  25. ↑ "KMT starts second phase of anti-ractopamine referendum campaign". Central News Agency. 5 January 2021. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  26. ↑ "Minister: Allowing ractopamine pork imports pivotal for joining CPTPP". RTI Radio Taiwan International (in Chinese). Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  27. ↑ "Scholar says pork ban will hurt CPTPP bid; media personality claims 'obscurantism" (in Chinese). Central News Agency. 18 November 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  28. ↑ Lee, Hsin-fang; Lin, Liang-sheng; Madjar, Kayleigh (28 March 2022). "DPP official defends holding concurrent votes". Taipei Times. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  29. ↑ Chen, Kelvin (5 March 2021). "Taiwan's economics minister comments on algal reef referendum". Taiwan News. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  30. ↑ Wang, Flor; Yeh, Su-ping (1 March 2021). "Enough signatures collected to pass algae reef referendum threshold". Central News Agency. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
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  33. ↑ "1218決戰公投！". Taiwan Statebuilding Party. 2019. Archived from the original on 15 November 2021. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
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  40. ↑ Teng, Pei-ju (18 December 2021). "Four referendum questions fail to pass on low turnout". Central News Agency. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
  41. ↑ Wang, Joyu (18 December 2021). "Taiwan Voters Back Ruling Party in Referendum, Removing Obstacle to U.S. Trade Deal". Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved 19 December 2021.
  42. ↑ 日本放送協会. "台湾 蔡英文政権"信任"の形に アメリカ産豚肉輸入で住民投票". NHKニュース. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
  43. ↑ Wang, Hung-Kuo (18 December 2021). "REFERENDUMS 2021/4th Nuclear Power Plant referendum defeated". Central News Agency (Taiwan). Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  44. ↑ Liang, Pei-chi (21 December 2021). "Business group calls for measures to ensure stable power supply". Central News Agency (Taiwan). Retrieved 23 December 2021.
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