The KMT continues with its efforts to tar the DPP as an authoritarian party, as reflected in a number of recent actions. This is, of course, highly ironic for the KMT, which itself ruled over Taiwan for decades during the authoritarian period, which once saw the world’s longest martial law period...
Demonstrations organized by the KMT on Sunday last week in Taipei prove ironic in several respects. The demonstration was against recent changes to the Referendum Act pushed into law by the DPP which will split which day that referendums are held on from the day that political elections take place, and make it so that referendums can only be held every two years...
The fact that a current campaign to hold a referendum on a planned coal-burning power plant in Shenao has led to pressure on the DPP is evident in flip-flopping by premier William Lai on the power plant. This has led to accusations of hypocrisy on the part of Lai from the KMT, which was a major force in pushing for the referendum...
Many uncertainties remain for efforts to realize marriage equality in Taiwan, with the approval of multiple referendums on marriage equality and sexual education. Two referendums, pushed for by marriage equality supporters, have phrasing favorable to the legalization of marriage equality and have reached the necessary benchmarks to be held. On the other hand, referendums with phrasing unfavorable to gay marriage and sexual education have also reached necessary benchmarks to be held, as pushed for by anti-gay groups...
Amending the so-called “Birdcage Referendum Act” has long been a demand of Taiwanese activists. In particular, holding a nationwide referendum was seen as a way to settle long-standing domestic issues in Taiwanese politics, such as with regards to the usage of nuclear energy in Taiwan, as well as the fundamental issue of independence versus unification, which goes to the heart of Taiwan’s unique political situation in global politics. It may not be too surprising, then, that calls for referendum have now become an object of political contestation on a number of issues. At least four campaigns for referendum are now under way in Taiwan that have been launched in the two months since changes to the Referendum Act in December of last year...
With the passage of amendments to the Referendum Act, celebrations have broken out from some of Taiwan’s post-Sunflower Movement activists with the view that this accomplishes a longstanding demand of activists to lower the benchmarks needed to hold public referendums in Taiwan. However, the implications of these changes remain to be seen...
