Foreign observers assess failed referendums

They further contended that referendums should be initiated by social groups instead of the government, in order to prevent them from being used as political tools.

“Any passerby could see who picked up the ballots,” lamented Cyd Ho, an observer from Hong Kong, who argued that voting secrecy in polling stations was not sufficiently assured islandwide.

When referendums are initiated by political parties, voters opposing such parties would rather boycott the referendum and decline to take the ballot, she explained.

“Revealing voters’ political position violates the principle of secret balloting,” she said.

“It is better to provide sufficient information for voters about the issues by holding public debates and discussions,” she suggested, adding that lowering or suppressing the threshold as a whole could probably boost voter turnout in referendums. Ho and other observers are part of two delegations from the Initiative and Referendum Institute Asia and Asian Network for Free election, with participants from Taiwan, the Philippines, Thailand, Hong Kong, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Sweden.

They were invited by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy to observe the presidential election and two accompanying referendums. On the other hand, Zandro Rapadas, chairperson of National Movement of Free elections from the Philippines stated that “non-participation in the referendum is also a form of participation.”

“They chose of not taking the ballot,” he went on, “It is participation! It is a statement by the people.” “It (the referendums) didn’t reach the threshold, so that means people felt the questions were irrelevant.”

“Who defines failure and success?” he said in a soft-spoken voice, “Only a few elite people?”

Against the idea of lowering the threshold of referenda, Yunus Ali, chairperson of the National Institute for Electoral Integrity, stressed that lowering the threshold to 30 percent of eligible voters would imply that a single majority of voters, or 15 percent of the electorate, could decide on major national policies.

“Would it [such a referendum] be legitimate?” he asked rhetorically.

Election Commission figures show that the referendum proposed by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party on applying for U.N. membership under the name Taiwan, received the support of about 5.5 million people or 35.82 percent of the eligible voters.

The other, proposed by the opposition Kuomintang on re-entering the U.N. under the name of Taiwan, the Republic of China, or any other suitable name gathered no more than 4.9 million votes in favor or 35.74 percent of the eligible voters.

According to provisions included in Taiwan’s Referendum Act, the two referendums were invalidated as neither achieved the threshold of participation by at least 50 percent of the electorate, or approximately 8.5 million votes.

Six referendums, the first two of which were proposed by President Chen Shui-bian and the rest by various political parties, have been held since the Referendum Act came into force in 2003. All have failed because none have managed to generate sufficient voter interest to raise participation to the 50 percent threshold.

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