He told a press conference the party and the government have decided to push for the referendums on “ill-gotten” assets of the Kuomintang and the accession to the United Nations under the name of Taiwan.

“We’ll be doing whatever we can to have both held at the same time with the presidential election,” Chai declared.

If possible, Chai went on, the ruling party will make it possible to hold legislative elections at the same time.

“Then,” he added, “we’re going to have three-in-one elections in lieu of the two-in-one.”

Voters are expected to go to the polls in December to elect a new Legislative Yuan, which will have its seats halved to 113 from the current 225.

The ruling party wants the legislative elections delayed until March next year.

Lin Chia-lung, DPP secretary-general, said at the press meeting preparations are being completed for the two referendums.

At present, Lin said, the endorsement for the proposal to hold the referendum on the party assets is 13 percent complete. “We are certain,” he added, “the endorsement will be completed by the end of June.”

Altogether one million eligible voters have to sign their names to complete the endorsement procedure. Only 130,000 signatures have so far been collected.

As to the other referendum, Lin said, the ruling party will be able to collect 100,000 signatures by May 20 for the first round endorsement.

The signatures will then be submitted to the Central Election Commission for vetting. With the approval of the commission, the ruling party will start the second round endorsement. Another one million signatures have to be gathered in two months.

Taiwan held its first referendum alongside the presidential election of 2004. President Chen Shui-bian initiated the referendum on a dialogue between Taipei and Beijing and the purchase of defense missiles from the United States.

The referendum was invalidated, for less than half of the electorate took part in the voting.

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