• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

President and premier to vote in nuclear plant referendum

ROC Central News Agency

2013/03/04 18:57:41

Taipei, March 4 (CNA) The government is serious about its plan to hold a referendum to decide the fate of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, and President Ma Ying-jeou will cast a ballot in it, Presidential Office spokeswoman Garfie Li said Monday.

Li was responding to a call by C.V. Chen, an adjunct professor of law at National Chengchi University's Graduate School of Law, for the president to pledge to vote in the referendum.

Chen issued the appeal in an op-ed piece published in the Chinese-language China Times Monday that urged the government to make sure that the referendum will have legitimacy.

For referendums in Taiwan to be declared valid, over 50 percent of eligible voters must cast ballots.

In votes on six previous referendum questions held in conjunction with national elections in 2004 and 2008, the threshold has never been met, as many voters have seen the polls as political ploys.

Opposition parties and anti-nuclear activists have accused the ruling Kuomintang of acting in bad faith by proposing a question that would allow work on the controversial nuclear power plant to continue if the turnout threshold is not met.

KMT legislators intend to initiate a referendum asking voters whether they want work on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant to be halted.

In his op-ed piece, Chen argued that only if 50 percent of voters cast ballots in the referendum would the battle over the plant's future be settled.

Li responded that Ma would vote in the poll and encourage others to follow suit because this is a meaningful referendum unrelated to political ideology.

The Cabinet also supports the Legislature's proposal to test the issue in a referendum in the hope of helping the public better understand important facets of the policy and its benefits and drawbacks through debate, Li said.

Premier Jiang Yi-huah said Monday he would also vote in the referendum, according to Cabinet spokeswoman Cheng Li-wun.

Meanwhile, Eric Chu, the mayor of New Taipei, the northern city in which the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant is being built, sidestepped the referendum question Monday, saying instead that the plant will only be operated if its safety is ensured.

Chu called on political parties not to interfere in the issue and urged the government to adopt the most stringent and objective standards to monitor nuclear safety.

Echoing Chu's opinion, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin said that only after the plant's safety is certified through a professional assessment should the plant begin operations.

Focusing on the referendum, KMT legislative caucus whip Lai Shyh-bao said the wording for the referendum initiative was particularly important and had to be handled carefully.

Lai said he disagreed with critics who said the 50 percent turnout threshold was too high because several countries around the world also use it.

Also Monday, Su Tseng-chang, chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), said the party will not propose an alternate question for the referendum.

The DPP will instead concentrate its efforts on mobilizing voters to meet the necessary threshold and to get enough "Yes" votes to pass the referendum and bring the project to a halt.

(By Li Shu-hua, Hsieh Chia-chen, Wen Kuei-hsiuang and Y.L. Kao)