KMT referendum bills make progress through Legislature vote

Taipei, March 25 (CNA) Taiwan's Legislature on Tuesday passed a motion sending two Kuomintang (KMT) referendum proposals on "opposing the abolition of the death penalty" and "opposing martial law" to a second reading without the need for committee review, after a contentious session marked by protests and parliamentary maneuvering.

The motion was supported by lawmakers from the main opposition party, the KMT, and the third-largest party, the Taiwan People's Party (TPP), with ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers voting against.

The motion brings closer the possibility that Taiwanese voters will be asked in a national referendum their views on capital punishment, which is legal in Taiwan though rarely enforced, and "martial law," which brings to mind the 38-year period of authoritarian rule prior to Taiwan's democratization beginning in the 1980s.

The "opposing the abolition of the death penalty" referendum proposal would ask voters: "Do you agree with the policy that judges in appellate courts do not need unanimous agreement to sentence a defendant to the death penalty?"

The "opposing martial law" referendum proposal would ask: "Do you agree the government should avoid war and prevent Taiwan from becoming a place of martial law, where youth die and homes are destroyed, as in Ukraine?"

In practice, the referendum questions have questionable significance, as the government led by the DPP does not formally support abolishing the death penalty nor does it support imposing martial law.

On Friday last week, Lee Chin-yung (李進勇), the chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC), said that the opposition parties' proposed referendum questions "would have no effect even if passed" since they ask the government not to implement a policy that the government doesn't advocate.

Earlier Tuesday, DPP lawmakers caused a halt in proceedings when they occupied the podium and prevented any discussion of the proposed referendums, which prompted Speaker Yuan Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) to suspend the meeting.

At around 6 p.m., when the legislative session was scheduled to end, the DPP lawmakers withdrew from the podium. However, it was then that the Speaker returned and announced the meeting would continue at 7:20 p.m.

The DPP's Wu Szu-yao (吳思瑤) and other lawmakers protested by holding placards and shouting "illegal meeting" while DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) repeatedly struck his desk with a cane in an attempt to disrupt the vote.

Despite the protests, the KMT and TPP -- who together command a majority of seats in the national lawmaking body -- passed the two referendum proposals to a direct second reading through a vote, bypassing the committee review stage.