Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/06/17
By: Flor Wang and Chen Chun-hua

Taipei, June 17 (CNA) The ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which has long supported the right of referendum and passed legislation to lower referendum thresholds in late 2017, has now passed a bill that will limit the exercise of direct democracy.

The DPP-controlled Legislative Yuan passed an amendment to the Referendum Act on Monday that will only allow national referendums to be held on the fourth Saturday of August every two years, starting in 2021.

That means they cannot be held together with Taiwan's presidential election in January 2020 or subsequent votes every four years after that or in conjunction with elections for local government offices to be held next in late 2022.

DPP lawmaker Chiang Chieh-an (蔣絜安) said the measure was passed to avoid the chaos of having referendums held alongside national polls, referring to local elections in November 2018 when 10 referendum questions were held as part of the vote.    [FULL  STORY]