Theory and Practice of Local Referendum：A Case Study of Political Views in 2014 Taiwan Local Election
Date Issued
2016
Date
2016
Author(s)
Fu, Huei-Chi
Abstract
The Referendum Act, adopted with the third reading in the Legislature Yuan on November 27th, 2003, provides the legal base for national referendum as well as local referendum. However during the legislative process, there are a number of limits placed on the Act, hence gaining a name called “the birdcage referendum.” The local referendum is a better embodiment of ensuring multi-culture and human rights, compared to its national counterpart. However, since the Referendum Act came into effect, only one referendum, the referendum of opening casino business at Matsu, has been passed based on the Offshore Islands Development Act, among the three local referendums having been held. This study aims to clarify the actual meaning brought by local referendums to local residents, and to understand how local residents express their opinions through local referendums when the system of representation fails to function properly. This study will also discuss the policy makers’ attitudes towards local referendums through observing their political views during the campaign of 2014 local election, as well as though observing the election results to examine whether the elect-mayors were able to strictly fulfill their promises in relation to local referendums or resident participation. At the beginning, this article will discuss the systems of local referendums in other countries in comparison with that of Taiwan, followed by an introduction of the system in Taiwan and experiences conducting it. In this study, it is observed that local referendums were held in Taiwan before the regulation was in place. However, since the Referendum Act took effect, the number of local referendums has decreased, rather than increased as expected, due to not only its high threshold in nature, but also the attitudes held by policy makers who play a key role. The observation on candidates’ political views made in this study shows that among the candidates running for the 2014 local election, 27% of them paid attention to issues related to the local referendum. Case studies on Taoyuan City, Hsinchu City, and Chiayi City were also conducted to examine the three elect-mayors on whether they fulfilled their promises in relation to the referendum made during the campaign. In spite of an unreasonably high threshold and the limited enforcement of referendums in Taiwan, the policy makers still took into consideration the public opinions in faced with the rising civic consciousness and have proposed other measures for resident participation that are different from referendums. This article will conclude with four major suggestions: Deregulation, E-Governance, Control of government, and Strengthening deliberation.
Subjects
Direct Democracy
Referendum
Local Referendum
Local Autonomy
Resident self-government
Local Election
Political View
Type
thesis
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