President Ma Ying-jeou says he does not believe the current referendum threshold should be lowered.
Current rules stipulate that more than 50% of eligible voters must participate and vote in favor in order for a referendum to pass. Many people have called on the government to revise referendum laws and lower the requirement.
Addressing the standing committee of the ruling Kuomintang Party, of which he is also chairman, Ma said that the threshold of support required for a referendum to pass must be suitably high.
Ma’s remarks on Wednesday came amid demands by the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to lower the current threshold to a simple majority in a referendum to decide the future of a controversial nuclear power plant project.
Ma said that a referendum without a threshold would lack legitimacy, while a referendum with too low a threshold would cause social instability. He also said that a referendum on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant will only be held after safety checks are completed.