Referendum in the Republic of China (Taiwan) 2018

A referendum was held in the Republic of China (Taiwan) on November 24, 2018, allowing voters to comment on various issues. A total of 10 questions could be answered. Five of them dealt with the legalization of same-sex marriage and related issues, three with energy policy, one with Taiwan's performance at international sporting events, and one with food imports from Japan.

The referendum took place parallel to the mayoral elections, district council elections and elections to the district assemblies, as well as local elections, which were seen as an important test of mood for the DPP government under President Tsai Ing-wen .

background

In the Republic of China (Taiwan), the legal basis for holding referendums on bills has existed since 2003 . According to the original referendum law ( 公民 投票 法 ) from 2003, referendums could be called if either the legislative yuan (the elected parliament) or at least 5 percent of the electorate requested it in the form of a petition. Before it could take place, the referendum had to be assessed and approved by a commission made up of equal numbers from the parties represented in the Legislative Yuan.

Until 2016, the Kuomintang (KMT), which was rather reserved about plebiscitary democracy , consistently occupied the majority of parliamentary seats in the legislative yuan. This changed with the 2016 election , in which the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won an absolute majority for the first time . The DPP government was open to efforts to clarify controversial issues through direct referendums. On December 12, 2017, the Legislative Yuan passed a law that significantly lowered the threshold for holding referenda. The voting age for referendums has been reduced from 20 to 18 years. The threshold for the first phase of initiating a referendum has been reduced from 0.5 percent of those eligible to vote (equivalent to around 70,000 signatures) to 0.01 percent (equivalent to around 1,800 signatures). The second phase no longer required 5 percent (approx. 900,000), but only 1.5 percent of those entitled to vote (280,000 signatures). For a referendum to be valid, 25 percent of eligible voters (not voters) had to vote “yes”. The law also contained provisions on how signatures could be collected online . The Central Electoral Commission was given the power to decide whether a question could be admitted to a referendum.

Referendum initiatives

As a result of the easier options for holding referenda, the Central Election Commission approved a total of 10 questions for a referendum (officially referred to as "Case 7" to "Case 16").

Three referendums were initiated by the Kuomintang. Two dealt with air pollution control from coal-fired power plants (Case 7 and Case 8). To this end, construction should be stopped for coal-fired power plants - including in particular the controversial Shen'ao ( 深 澳 電廠 ) coal-fired power station in New Taipei - and electricity generation from coal should be reduced annually. The third referendum called for the import ban on food from regions of Japan affected by the Fukushima nuclear disaster to be maintained .

Three referendums (case 10, case 11, case 13) became an amalgamation through the Alliance for the Happiness of our Next Generation ( 官方 簡稱 幸福 盟 , English Coalition for the Happiness of our Next Generation ), or “Glücksallianz” ( 幸福 盟 ) for short various Christian and conservative groups. The three referendums were directed against the legalization of same-sex marriage and against issues such as homosexuality and sex education in schools. A type of registered partnership was effectively proposed for same-sex partners .

Two referendums (Case 14 and Case 15) were initiated by LBTG interest groups and aimed to legalize same-sex marriage.

A referendum (case 13) initiated by the Formosa Alliance aimed to ensure that Taiwan should no longer apply for future international sporting events under the name “ Chinese Taipei ”, but under the name “Taiwan”. This referendum was explicitly rejected by the official organization of Taiwanese Olympians ( Chinese Taipei Olympians Association , CTOA) because it was feared that Taiwan could be completely excluded from international sporting events at the instigation of the People's Republic of China.

A referendum (case 16) was directed against the government's decision to phase out nuclear power on 2025 .

With regard to the legally binding nature of the referendums, the Taiwanese lawyer Lu Chiou-yuan ( 呂 秋 遠 ) commented critically that 9 of the 10 questions had no binding effect. In these cases, the government is not forced to follow the referendum vote. For him, the referendums are essentially an opinion poll costing NT $ 1.5 billion (EUR 42.8 million). The only legally binding referendum is case 16, the question of the cancellation of the key date for the nuclear phase-out, in which the voters would specifically be asked about the repeal of an article in the law.

The 10 questions asked

The questions asked were the following:

「(一) 第 7 案 ： 你 是否 同意 以「 平均 每年 至少 降低 1% 」之 方式 逐年 降低 火力發電廠 發電 量？」

"(1) Case 7: Do you agree to reduce the amount of electricity generated by thermal power plants from year to year by an average of at least 1% per year ?" "

「(二) 第 8 案 ： 您 是否 同意 確立「 停止 新建 、 擴建 任何 燃煤 發電廠 或 發電機 組 （包括 深 深 澳 電廠 擴建） 」之 能源 政策？」

"(2) Case 8: Do you agree that energy policy should be geared towards" not allowing the construction and expansion of coal-fired power stations or generators (including the expansion of the Shen'ao power station) "?"

「(三) 第 9 案 ： 你 是否 同意 政府 維持 禁止 開放 日本 福島 311 核 災 相關 地區 ， 包括 福島 與 周遭 4 縣市 （茨城 、 櫪 木 、 群 馬 、 千葉） 等 地區 農產品 及 食品 進口？」

"(3) Case 9: Agree that the government can enforce the ban on the import of agricultural products and foodstuffs from areas of Japan affected by the Fukushima nuclear disaster of March 11, 2011, ie Fukushima and the surrounding four prefectures ( Ibaraki , Tochigi , Gunma , Chiba ) continues? "

「(四) 第 10 案 ： 你 是否 同意 民法 婚姻 規定 應 限定 在 一 男一女 的 結合？」

"(4) Case 10: Do you agree that under civil law a marriage should only be concluded between a man and a woman?"

「(五) 第 11 案 ： 你 是否 同意 在 國民 教育 階段 內 （國 中 及 國 小） ， 教育部 及 各級 各級 學校 不 應對 學生 實施 實施 性別 平等 教育 法 施行 細則 所 定 之 同志 教育？」

"(5) Case 11: Do you agree that the Ministry of Education and the individual schools should not teach teaching content related to homosexuality as laid down in the Act on Education for Gender Equality?"

「(六) 第 12 案 ： 你 是否 同意 以 民法 婚姻 規定 以外 之 其他 形式 來 來 保障 同 性別 二人 經營 永久 共同 生活 生活 的 權益？」

"(6) Case 12: Do you agree that the rights of same-sex persons living together permanently should be protected in a form other than civil marriage?"

「(七) 第 13 案 ： 你 是否 同意 ， 以「 台灣 」（Taiwan） 為 全 名 申請 參加 所有 國際 運動 賽事 及 2020 年 東京 奧運？」

"(7) Case 13: Do you agree that Taiwan may apply under the full name of" Taiwan "「 台灣 」at international sporting events, including the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics ?"

「(八) 第 14 案 ： 您 是否 同意 ， 以 民法 婚姻 章 保障 同 性別 性別 建立 建立 婚姻 關係？」

"(8) Case 14: Do you agree that the civil law marriage provisions should be changed to give same-sex couples the right to marry?"

「(九) 第 15 案 ： 您 是否 同意 ， 以「 性別 平等 教育 法 」明 定 在 國民 教育 各 階段 內 實施 性別 性別 平等 教育 ， 且 內容 應 涵蓋 情感 教育 、 性教育 、 同志 教育 等 課程？」

"(9) Case 15: Agree that education on gender equality, as set out in the Gender Equality Act, should be taught at all levels of national education and that such education should include topics such as emotional education, sex education , should include gay and lesbian sexuality? "

「(十) 第 16 案 ： 您 是否 同意 ： 廢除 電 業 法 第 95 條 第 1 項 ， 即 廢除「 核能 發電 設備 應 應 於 中華民國 一百 十四 年 以前 ， 全部 停止 運轉 」之 條文？」

"(10) Case 16: Do you agree that paragraph 1 of Article 95 of the Electricity Industry Act, which stipulates that" all nuclear power plants must cease operations by 2025 ", should be repealed?"

Results

In the vote, 19,757,067 people were entitled to vote.

No.	question	Yes		No		Invalid Empty	total	Participation	Result
		number	%	number	%
7th	Reduction of the amount of electricity from thermal power plants	7,955,753	79.04	2.109.157	20.96	715.140	10.780.050	54.56	Yes
8th	No expansion of old and no new coal-fired power plants	7,599,267	76.41	2,346,316	23.59	823.945	10,769,528	54.51	Yes
9	No import of food from the Fukushima region	7,791,856	77.74	2,231,425	22.26	756.041	10,779,322	54.56	Yes
10	Marriage only between man and woman	7,658,008	72.48	2,907,429	27.52	459.508	11,024,945	55.80	Yes
11	No sex education and homosexuality education in schools	7,083,379	67.44	3,419,624	32.56	507.101	11.010.104	55.73	Yes
12	Civil partnership and no marriage for same-sex couples	6,401,748	61.12	4,072,471	38.88	540,757	11,014,976	55.75	Yes
13	Application as "Taiwan" at international sporting events	4,763,086	45.20	5,774,556	54.80	505.153	11,042,795	55.89	No
14th	Same-sex marriage	3,382,286	32.74	6,949,697	67.26	608.484	10,940,467	55.37	No
15th	Education on gender equality in schools	3,507,665	34.01	6,805,171	65.99	619.001	10,931,837	55.33	No
16	No mandatory nuclear phase-out in 2025	5,895,560	59.49	4,014,215	40.51	922.960	10,832,735	54.83	Yes
Source: Central Electoral Commission

In all 10 referendum questions, more than 25% of the electorate voted either “Yes” or “No”, so that all referendums were formally valid. The voters voted for the further reduction of thermal power plants and against the mandatory nuclear phase-out in 2025. They voted against same-sex marriage, against sex education and teaching about homosexuality as a compulsory subject in schools, as well as for a registered partnership instead of marriage for same-sex couples . Applications under the name “Taiwan” at international sporting events were rejected.

Results by municipalities

Referendum question 13
(application as "Taiwan" at international sporting events)

Referendum question 14
(introduction of same-sex marriage)

Referendum question 16
(repeal of the nuclear phase-out)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Tim Culpan: Taiwan referendum bill sets stage. BBC News, November 28, 2003, accessed November 23, 2018 . 
2. ^ Sean Lin: Referendum Act amendments approved. Taipei Times, November 13, 2017, accessed on November 23, 2018 (English, the percentages given here are too low by a factor of 100). 
3. ^ Referendum Act. Laws & Regulation Database of the Republic of China, January 3, 2018, accessed November 23, 2018 . 
4. ↑ ^{a b} 公民 投票 案 之 編號 及 主文 ， 自 公告 成立 後即 未有 任何 更動 (“Numbering and main text of the referendum have not changed since the announcement”). Taiwan Central Electoral Commission, accessed November 23, 2018 (Chinese). 
5. ↑ Lee Hsin-fang, Jake Chung: ELECTIONS: CEC raises incentives for poll monitors, volunteers. Taipei Times, October 25, 2018, accessed November 23, 2018 . 
6. ↑ Lisa Tsai: Taiwan Takes a Step Back With New Coal Plant. the Diplomat, May 12, 2018, accessed November 24, 2018 . 
7. ↑ Liao Yu-yang, Flor Wang: Shen'ao power plant negotiations still ongoing: minister. Focus Taiwan, August 2, 2018, accessed November 24, 2018 . 
8. ↑ Lee Hsin-fang: Six referendums approved: CEC. Taipei Times, October 10, 2018, accessed November 23, 2018 . 
9. ↑ Brian Hioe: Formosa Alliance Holds Referendum Rally Outside Of DPP Headquarters. New Bloom, October 20, 2018, accessed January 23, 2020 . 
10. ↑ Duncan DeAeth: Petition for referendum to scrap 'Chinese Taipei' at 68% of signatures needed. Taiwan News, August 14, 2018, accessed November 23, 2018 . 
11. ↑ Sean Lin: 2018 ELECTIONS: Only one referendum legally binding. Taipei Times, November 25, 2018, accessed November 24, 2018 .