President Ma Ying-jeou is scheduled to meet with the chairman of the main opposition Democratic Progressive Party, Su Tseng-chang. The two will discuss the fourth nuclear power plant issue.
Presidential Office spokesperson Lee Chia-fei said on Thursday that Ma extended an invitation earlier in the day. The two will meet Friday morning.
The opposition Democratic Progressive Party last week unveiled a plan to pass a special statute that would allow a referendum on the controversial nuclear power plant to pass with a simple majority vote. The current law requires participation of more than half of all the nation’s eligible voters for a referendum to be valid. In order for a referendum motion to pass, the support of at least half of the participants is also needed. Critics of the law say that the threshold is unreasonably high, and are calling on the government to lower it.
The fourth nuclear power plant has been under construction for 15 years. Last year, the government promised a referendum to decide the future of the project.