Taiwanese transitional justice referendum, 2008

Two referendums took place in Taiwan on 12 January 2008, alongside simultaneous legislative elections. One (officially numbered as Question 3) is on transitional justice and the treatment of contentious properties acquired by the Kuomintang, and a counter-referendum (Question 4) initiated by the Kuomintang on alleged corruption in politics.

Contents

• Questions and results
• Proposal 3
• Proposal 4
• References

This referendum was considered to be a dress rehearsal for a more contentious referendum on support for Taiwan admission to the United Nations to be held in March.

To be effective a referendum under Taiwanese law must have over 50% of all voters voting. In this situation, the Kuomintang urged voters to boycott both referendums to prevent them from reaching the threshold needed to for adoption, and there was much pre-election controversy over the format and structure of the balloting. Initially, the Kuomintang was in favor of a two-step balloting system where voters would vote for the legislative elections and then for the referendum while the DPP was in favor of a one-step system in which voters would get all four ballots to vote. The final system was a one-step, two-table system in which voters would get the ballots at separate tables but would vote in one step.

The Central Election Commission of Taiwan declared the failure of both referendums due to low turnout, as less than 50% of eligible voters chose to cast a vote for either question. The legislative election held at the same time had a turn-out rate of around 58%.