Referendums
Profile
The political rights of Election, Recall, Initiative and Referendum of the people of Taiwan are firmly entrenched in the constitution of the country. On December 31, 2003, the Referendum Act was enacted and established a legal basis for the people to vote directly on laws or legislative principles or important policies. There have been totally 4 times of national votes on 16 referendum proposals since the Act was enacted. For the results of votes, 7 of the 16 proposals were adopted, while the other 9 were vetoed (as listed in the table below).
The amendments to the Referendum Act were promulgated on January 3, 2018. Under the revisions, the Central Election Commission becomes the competent authority responsible for national referendums, the legal voting age is lowered to 18, the Referendum Review Committee is abolished, an electronic system is established to enable citizens to propose and joint signatures, and the thresholds for proposing, jointing signatures, and approving referendums is significantly reduced. This will move the country towards its goals of realizing the full potential of individual sovereign rights and empower the people of Taiwan to exercise direct democracy.
Another amendment of partial Referendum Act articles were promulgated on June 21, 2019. The major revisions of this amendment include: stipulate the inadmissible submission conditions of proposals and joint signatures, the re-submission for proposal and joint signatures is limited to one time only, the list of joint signers should be submitted all at once, as well as stipulate that the referendum voting date will be the fourth Saturday of August and the referendum vote will be held once every 2 year starting from 2021.
The Act stipulates referendums can be initiated by
citizens through petition drives, by motions from the Legislative or the
Executive Yuan, or at the president’s request. While national referendums are
the responsibility of the Central Election Commission, local referendums are
managed by the municipal and county (city) governments. Local election
commissions are responsible for the polling proceedings.
Voted national referendum proposals：
|
Proposal
Number/ Time of
referendum |
Question |
Result |
|
Proposal No.1 March 20, 2004 |
The People of
Taiwan demand that the Taiwan Strait issue be resolved through peaceful
means. Should Communist China refuse to withdraw the missiles it has targeted
at Taiwan and to openly renounce the use of force against us, would you agree
that the Government should acquire more advanced anti-missile weapons to
strengthen Taiwan's self-defense capabilities? |
vetoed |
|
Proposal No.2 March 20, 2004 |
Would you agree
that our Government should engage in negotiation with Communist China on the
establishment of a "peace and stability" framework for cross-strait
interactions in order to build consensus and for the welfare of the peoples
on both sides? |
vetoed |
|
Proposal No.3 Jan 12, 2008 |
Do you agree
that the following principles should be followed to legislate a "Statute
on the Disposition of Assets Improperly Obtained by Political Parties,"
in order to return such properties of the Kuomintang to the people?:
Properties of the Kuomintang and its associated organizations – outside of
party dues, political donations, and public campaign subsidies – should be
presumed inappropriately acquired and returned to the people. Those already
liquidated, the party should compensate at market value. |
vetoed |
|
Proposal No.4 Jan 12, 2008 |
Do you agree
that legislation should be enacted to investigate the responsibility of
leaders of the nation and their subordinates, when there is grave damage to
the nation due to their wrongful intentions or gross negligence in carrying
out their duties? Further, do you agree that Commissions of Inquiry should be
set up by the Legislative Yuan to investigate such matters; and that the
departments of the government should cooperate fully without resistance, in
order that the benefits of the people will be preserved? That the personnel
criminally at fault should be punished and their illegal income be recovered? |
vetoed |
|
Proposal No.5 March 22, 2008 |
In 1971, the
People’s Republic of China joined the United Nations, replacing the Republic
of China and causing Taiwan to become an orphan in the world. To strongly
express the will of the people of Taiwan and to enhance Taiwan’s
international status and participation in international affairs, do you agree
that the government should apply for UN membership under the name
"Taiwan"? |
vetoed |
|
Proposal No.6 March 22, 2008 |
Do you agree
that our nation should apply to return to the United Nations and join other
international organizations based on pragmatic, flexible strategies with
respect to the name [under which we apply to and participate in them]? That
is: Do you approve of applying to return to the United Nations and to join
other international organizations under the name “Republic of China”, or
“Taiwan”, or other name that is conducive to success and preserves our
nation’s dignity? |
vetoed |
|
Proposal No.7 November 24, 2018 |
Do you agree “to reduce at least 1% on average per
year” gradually of the power generation outputs of thermal power plant? |
adopted |
|
Proposal No.8 November 24, 2018 |
Do you agree to establish an energy policy to “Stop the
construction and expansion of any fossil fuel power station or generator units
(including the Shen Ao Power Plant currently under expansion construction)”? |
adopted |
|
Proposal No.9 November 24, 2018 |
Do you agree that the government should continue to
prohibit the import of agricultural products and food from areas affected by
the Fukushima March 11th Disaster? Specifically, those from
Fukushima district and the 4 surrounding cities of Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma,
and Chiba? |
adopted |
|
Proposal No.10 November 24, 2018 |
Do you agree that marriage defined in the Civil Code
should be restricted to the union between a man and a woman? |
adopted |
|
Proposal No.11 November 24, 2018 |
Do you agree that the Ministry of Education and schools
(elementary and junior high schools) should not implement the gender equality
education defined by the Enforcement Rules for Gender Equity Education Act to
students under primary and junior high school education? |
adopted |
|
Proposal No.12 November 24, 2018 |
Do you agree to implement the protection of same-sex
couples’ rights of permanent cohabitation by ways other than amending the
marriage definition in the Civil Code? |
adopted |
|
Proposal No.13 November 24, 2018 |
Do you agree to use the name “Taiwan” when applying for
attending in all international sport competitions, including the upcoming
2020 Tokyo Olympics? |
vetoed |
|
Proposal No.14 November 24, 2018 |
Do you agree to implement the protection of same-sex
marital rights with the marriage definition in the Civil Code? |
vetoed |
|
Proposal No.15 November 24, 2018 |
Do you agree that the “Gender Equality Education Act”
should stipulate the implementation of gender equality education in every
stage of primary and junior high school education, including relationship
education, sex education and Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity
education? |
vetoed |
|
Proposal No.16 November 24, 2018 |
Do you agree to repeal the Article 95 paragraph 1 of The
Electricity Act: “The nuclear-energy-based power-generating facilities shall
wholly stop running by 2025”? |
adopted |