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Two referendums fail to pass (updated with new information)

ROC Central News Agency

2008-01-12 23:48:06

    Taipei, Jan. 12 (CNA) The Central Election Commission (CEC) announced Saturday that both referendum proposals held alongside the legislative elections had failed to pass because they did not clear the first hurdle that requires half of the eligible voters to cast ballots.

    One of the referendum proposals was initiated by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to retrieve what it alleges are "ill-gotten" assets accumulated by the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) in its five-decade rule of Taiwan.

    The other referendum was proposed by the KMT to oppose government corruption.

    The turnout rate for the DPP-initiated referendum was 26.34 percent. Among the valid votes, 3,891,170 voters, or 91.46 percent, voted "yes," while 363,494, or 8.54 percent, voted "no."

    The turnout rate for the KMT-proposed referendum was 26.08 percent. Among the 3,961,026 valid votes, 2,304,136 votes, or 58.17 percent, were supportive, while 1,656,890 votes, or 41.83, were negative.

    Both referendums registered even lower turnout rates than in the failed first referendums held alongside the 2004 presidential election, when two referendums initiated by President Chen Shui-bian on stepping up national defense and engaging in parity negotiations with China registered turnout rates of 45.16 percent, and 45.11 percent, respectively. .

    According to the CEC, there were 17,277,720 eligible voters and at least 8,638,862 would have had to vote in the referendums. Of these voters, more than half would have had to vote "yes" to ensure their passage.

    The low turnout rate for Saturday's referendums may be attributed to a boycott of the referendum by the KMT late last month. The KMT feared that too many ballots -- two for the legislative elections and two for the referendums -- would cause confusion and hurt the party's chances of retaining dominance in the legislature.

(By Lilian Wu)

ENDITEM/J