Lawmakers from the opposition KMT are making a final push to drive up voter turnout in a referendum vote scheduled for Saturday.
On Saturday, Taiwan’s voters will cast ballots to resolve four hotly contested issues. These are: the fate of Taiwan’s fourth nuclear power plant, whether to reinstate a ban on imported pork containing the additive ractopamine, whether to move a natural gas facility to protect a nearby algae reef, and whether future referendums should coincide with elections.
On Friday, the entire KMT legislative caucus gathered outside the legislature building to hold a pre-referendum press conference.
There, KMT Caucus Convener Fai Hrong-tai called on voters to go to the polls despite chilly weather that is expected to roll into Taiwan over Saturday. Fai said that if turnout is too low, Taiwan’s referendums will become meaningless exercises that do not accurately reflect the will of the people.
Also during the press conference, lawmaker Jeng Tian-tsair, an ethnic Amis, and lawmaker Chang Yu-mei, a Hakka, used the Amis and Hakka languages respectively to appeal to members of their home communities to go and vote on Saturday.