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Updated Saturday, September 26, 2009 11:07 am TWN, The China Post news staff

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Casino referendum to take place on Pescadores today

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Taiwan's first local referendum, on approving the opening of a casino on the Pescadores, takes place today, with pros and cons almost equally matched.

An estimated 40,000 voters will go to the polls to decide whether a casino should be opened in the county of Penghu on the small archipelago of the same name in the Taiwan Strait but known more popularly as the Pescadores in the West.

If the referendum law were strictly adhered to, the vote would be invalidated, or at least so the opponents believe.

For the results to be valid, according to the law, a referendum has to be voted on by at least a single majority of the electorate. The referendum will be adopted if an absolute majority of the voters approve of the measure on the referendum.

That's not the case on the Pescadores. The over-the-half electorate rule does not apply. A single majority of the votes cast makes the outcome binding.

Opponents, supported by the Democratic Progressive Party, filed complaints with Penghu district prosecutors yesterday that they have been intimidated by those who seem to want a casino at any cost.

Buddhist nun Chao Hui and Green Party secretary-general Pan Han-sheng met with Penghu district prosecutor in chief Chu Kun-mu in the morning to ask for protection.

They are in Makung at the head of a referendum observer mission.

Lin Chang-hsing, chairman of the Penghu anti-gambling league, urged Chu to investigate the “rampant vote-buying” and the “placement marketing” in the media of politicians and land developers to rig the referendum.

Chu promised an investigation, but refused to reveal how many referendum-rigging cases are under investigation.

Chao Hui, in particular, emphasized the casino referendum isn't legal. “It's against the referendum law, and therefore is unlawful,” she told the prosecutor in chief.

On the other hand, independent lawmaker Lin Ping-kun charged them with “interfering with the self-determination of the people of the Penghu.”

Lin, elected from the Pescadores, said the opponents have an ulterior motive. “They want to affect the magistracy election of Penghu,” he charged.

Eligible voters will go to the polls again on December 5 to elect their new magistrate.

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