【精英翻譯關注新聞】DPP Legislators push officials on lowering threshold for referendums to be valid－【精英翻譯】的部落格

DPP Legislators push officials on lowering threshold for referendums to be valid (2014/04/24)

Senior government officials held an emergency meeting Wednesday night to discuss the possibility of lowering the threshold needed for a referendum in Taiwan to be valid. They decided to maintain their support for the existing law, but DPP lawmakers on Thursday continued to press officials to relent. One of them asked the government to do it to save the hunger-striking Lin Yi-hsiung.

DPP lawmaker Yao Wen-chih attended the hearing wearing a shirt from the “Let the People Decide” movement started by former DPP Chairman Lin Yi-hsiung. He asked Cabinet Secretary-General Lee Shu-chuan and Interior Minister Chen Wei-zen to save the hunger-striking Lin.

Yao Wen-chih
DPP Lawmaker
Lin Yi-hsiung is using his life to show his strong will. I’m begging you while there’s still time to find a way to get Ma Ying-jeou to make the right decision and save Taiwan’s democracy and save Chairman Lin Yi-hsiung’s life.

They urged the official to show some guts and give their opinion on whether the referendum threshold can be lowered. At present, at least 50 percent of eligible voters need to turn out for a referendum to be valid.

Duan Yi-kang
DPP Lawmaker
Those opposing a measure can simply not vote and in effect veto a (referendum) initiative because there is a threshold.

Lee Shu-chuan
Cabinet Secretary-General
Of course, there are many legislators and many local leaders who have raised the idea of changing this. We respect their efforts.

Chang Po-ya, the head of Taiwan’s Central Election Commission, acknowledged that the threshold was high, but she would not say if it was possible to lower the bar. Interior Minister Chen Wei-zen said major issues should be decided by a majority of voters and that the existing law is appropriate.

公投法攻防

針對公投門檻調降議題，府院黨高層昨天晚間，緊急開會因應，雖然最後還是堅持現行的公投法的門檻設計，立委今天找來多位部會首長備詢，要問問他們的意見。

身穿由前民進黨主席林義雄發起的「人民作主運動」POLO衫，民進黨立委姚文智向行政院秘書長李四川、內政部長陳威仁拜託，請他們解救絕食中的林義雄。

[[民進黨立委姚文智]]
“林義雄也用生命，來表達堅決的意志，我拜託你們，最後的時刻，提出具體的作法，讓馬英九作好正確的決策，來挽救台灣的民主，挽救林義雄主席的生命”

呼籲部會首長拿出guts，針對降低現行需達全國投票權人總數一半以上的公投門檻可不可行表態。

[[立委段宜康]]
“反對的人我只要不出來投票，我就可以否決這個(公投)案子，是因為我們有門檻的設計”

[[政院秘書長李四川
“當然現在有很多委員，包括地方首長所提的這些修改的部份，我們都予以尊重”

中選會主委張博雅坦承我國公投的門檻比較嚴，但是對於有沒有下修的空間，不便置喙。內政部長陳威仁則說，重大議題應由多數人決定，現行公投門檻規定適當。