Location Taiwan No 581,413 Date 20 March 2004 | Yes 6,511,216 Valid votes 7,092,629 | |
6,511,216 7001918000000000000♠91.80% 581,413 7000820009999999999♠8.20% | ||
A nationwide consultative referendum (全國性公民投票) was held in Taiwan on March 20, 2004 to coincide with the 2004 presidential election. Voters were asked two questions regarding the relationship between Taiwan (ROC) and China (PRC), and how Taiwan should relate to China. The initiation of this referendum by President Chen Shui-bian came under intense criticism from China because it was seen as an exercise for an eventual vote on Taiwan independence. The Pan-Blue Coalition urged a boycott, citing that the referendum was illegal and unnecessary. Voters agreed by wide margins on the two questions put forth by the government, but the less than 50% voter turnout invalidated the result.
Contents
Questions and results
Both results were rendered void since turnout were below the minimum requirement of 50% of registered voters. Note that English translations shown are not official.
Legislative process for a law on referendum
The vetting of the referendum bill appeared to alarm Beijing which issued more sharp threats of a strong reaction if a referendum bill passed which would allow a vote on sovereignty issues such as the territory and flag of the ROC. The final bill that was passed by the Legislative Yuan on November 27, 2003 did not contain restrictions on the content of any referendums, but did include very high hurdles for referendums on constitutional issues. These hurdles were largely put in place by the Pan-Blue Coalition majority in the legislature. The bill also contained a provision for a defensive referendum to be called if the sovereignty of the ROC was under threat. In response to the referendum passage, Beijing issued vague statements of unease.
Proposal for a referendum and reactions
On November 29, 2004, President Chen Shui-bian announced that given that the PRC had missiles aimed at Taiwan, he had the power under the defensive referendum clause to order a referendum on sovereignty, although he did not do so under pressure by USA. This statement was very strongly criticized both by Beijing and by the Pan-Blue Coalition. But instead, he proposed a referendum to ask the PRC to remove the hundreds of missiles it has aimed at Taiwan.
In a televised address made on January 16, 2004, President Chen reiterated his "Four Noes and One Without" pledge, justified the "peace referendum," and announced its questions.
Official debates
A series of 10 debates were held over 5 days (Wednesdays and Sundays) on the referendum (first pair on first question; second on second; pro-government listed before con-) [1]
One interesting characteristic of the debates is that the con positions were not argued by any active political figures in the Pan-Blue Coalition, and the CEC at first found it difficult to find people to take the con position. The Pan-Blue Coalition has made it clear that it favored the topics to be decided in the referendum, but believed that the referendum process itself was illegal and a prelude to more controversial topics. As a consequence, Pan-Blue asked its supporters not to vote at all in the referendum, with the intention of having the number of valid votes fall below the 50% voter threshold necessary to have a valid referendum.
Election procedure
Because of Pan-Blue's strategy of having people cast no ballot in the referendum, one major controversy was the format of the election, specifically as whether the referendum questions would be on the same or different ballots as the Presidency. After much debate the CEC decided that there would be a U shaped line in which people would first cast a ballot for President and then cast a separate ballot for each of the two questions. Voters who choose not to cast a referendum ballot could exit the line at the base of the U. Near the end of the campaign, the CEC issued a number of conflicting and constantly changing directives as to what would constitute a valid ballot.