Frank Hsieh, presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, and opponent Ma Ying-jeou of the opposition Kuomintang tiptoed around whether they supported the Suao-Hualien Expressway project in their first televised debate, preferring to discuss development in the eastern part of the country.

Noting that the debate over the controversial issue in past years has failed to yield conclusive results, Lin suggested that the best way to solve the issue is through a county-wide referendum.

Lin said the county council would need to complete appropriate legislation first before a referendum could take place. Two previous attempts — one by the current county council and another by the previous county council — to pass rules and regulations on local referendums were unsuccessful.

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