nuclear-news

Lawmakers in Taiwan requested Central Election Commission chairwoman Chang Po-ya on March 18 to deliver a report on the implementation of absentee voting in national referendums and elections, a matter which has been brought under the spotlight after the Cabinet proposed a referendum to decide the future of the country’s Fourth Nuclear Power Plant.

“The estimated coast of a national referendum is about NT$780 million (US$26.2 million) and the implementation of absentee voting would cost an additional NT$80 million (US$2 million),” Chang said.

The chairwoman said that establishing absentee voting for overseas citizens, especially Taiwanese businesspeople in China, would be complex. For this reason, the Cabinet for the moment is only allowing domestic residents to take part in the ballot.

“Preparatory work for the implementation of transfer voting in the nuclear power plant referendum would take between one and three months,” she said. “Citizens who intend to vote in a different constituency would be required to register 30 days in advance, and it will take another 20 days or so to review the registration.”

As the government is keen for construction on the much-delayed nuclear plant to proceed, the move lends a certain degree of weight to the opposition camp’s view that the ruling Kuomintang wants the referendum to fail.

References:

Chang Po-ya　　張博雅

http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20130320000039&cid=1101