Lee Chin-yung's Machinations and the DPP's "Plebiscite Phobia"

 Lee Chin-yung's Machinations and the DPP's "Plebiscite Phobia"

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

June 4, 2019

 Translation of an Excerpt

Lee Chin-yung, whose nomination as chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC) was railroaded for confirmation amid spirited contentions, advocated on his first day in office that "plebiscite elections should be delinked from the general elections." Such a contentious political stance demonstrates that he had no intention to be or did not know how to be a CEC chairman who should administer his office impartially and independently in accordance with the law, thus, partisan manipulations would be brought into the CEC. Lee Chin-yung says that in the future, standards will be stipulated that "elections for only a certain number of plebiscite propositions" can be combined with general elections. It seems that he has raised the bar for plebiscite elections to be combined with general elections next year; the plebiscite proposition to “de-mothball Nuclear Power Plant No. 4” introduced by civic groups will probably be shot down.  

The plebiscite phobia of the Tsai government all started from the DPP’s stunning defeat in the nine-in-one local elections last yearend. Last yearend, seven plebiscite propositions were adopted in the elections; this result greatly exceeded the expectations of the ruling and opposition parties. Laughably, the DPP did not engage in soul-searching on its incompetent governance which led to the draining of popular support, but assigned the blame for the electoral defeat to "plebiscite elections combined with general elections", believing that the vote on plebiscites adversely impacted its electoral prospects, giving a rare opportunity to the opposition party, and leading to its own electoral defeat.

For this reason, in recent months, the DPP has painstakingly sought to send plebiscites back to the "bird cage". In April, the Cabinet introduced an amendment bill to the Plebiscite Act, firstly to increase the degree of difficulty for co-sponsoring a plebiscite proposition, and secondly to delink plebiscite elections from general elections. It aims not only to reduce the number of plebiscites (hence adding a stipulation requiring "a photocopy of one’s national ID card for co-sponsorship"), but also modifies the stipulation of Article 3 of the Plebiscite Act that plebiscite elections “shall” be combined with national elections, changing the wording "shall" to “may”. These revisions reflect that the DPP’s "plebiscite phobia" has reached a serious plateau.

Ironically, when the DPP was in the opposition, it forcefully pushed for the plebiscite system, helping the adoption of plebiscite legislation. The "plebiscite frenzy" of the DPP of yesteryear has now, however, become a "plebiscite phobia"; is it true that these all came about only because of the waning of enthusiasm? The Tsai government not only wants to send plebiscites back to the bird cage, but Lee Chin-yung even attempts to utilize his authority as CEC chairman to alter the timetable of plebiscite elections; the former is the withering of the spirit of democracy, while the latter is naked abuse of authority. On his first day in office, Lee Chin-yung immediately trampled on the red line, openly echoing the amendment bill introduced by the DPP, audaciously abusing his authority to “jump the gun”; from all this we can foresee theat this CEC would play the role of a “loyalist.”

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