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User:Mliu92/sandbox/TRA

< User:Mliu92‎ | sandbox
  • Referendum Act
  • 公民投票法
Seal of the Legislative Yuan
Seal of the Legislative Yuan
Legislative Yuan
  • Enacted pursuant to the principle of popular sovereignty prescribed in the Constitution and for the purpose of ensuring the citizens' exercising their direct civil rights.
Citation"Referendum Act". Laws & Regulations Database of The Republic of China. June 17, 2009. Retrieved November 26, 2014.
Territorial extentTaiwan
PassedNovember 27, 2003
CommencedDecember 31, 2003
Amended by
  • Articles 7, 42 and 64 on May 30, 2006
  • Articles 7 and 64 on May 27, 2009
  • Article 35 on June 17, 2009
[1]
Summary
Provides legal framework and process for citizens to exercise the constitutional right to referendum in the Republic of China.
Keywords
Referendum, Constitution of the Republic of China, Three Principles of the People
Status: Amended

The Taiwan Referendum Act (Chinese: 公民投票法; pinyin: Gōngmín tóupiào fǎ; lit. 'Citizens' Voting Law') lays out the legal process and requirements for the direct-vote referendum process in Taiwan. Although the right of referendum was guaranteed in the Constitution of the Republic of China as early as 1946, the Constitution was suspended almost of the Constitution under martial law in Taiwan meant that there were no referendums in Taiwan until the passage of the Referendum Act.

History edit

Article 17 of the Constitution of the Republic of China guarantees "the people shall have the right of election, recall, initiative and referendum,"[2] implementing "government by the People," one of the Three Principles of the People developed by Sun Yat-sen, founder of the Republic of China. The Constitution went into effect on December 25, 1947, but was effectively suspended under the 1948 "Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of Communist Rebellion" which established martial law in Taiwan until 1987.

Requirements edit

Scope edit

Referendums may be initiated for a limited number of topics.[3]

National Referendum edit

National referendums may be initiated for the following topics of national importance:

  • Laws
  • Legislative principles
  • Important policies
  • Amendment of the Constitution

Local Referendum edit

Local referendums may be initiated for the following topics concerning local autonomy:

  • Laws and regulations
  • Legislative principles
  • Important policies

Exclusions edit

The following topics are excluded from the referendum process:

  • Budgeting
  • Taxation
  • Investment
  • Salary
  • Personnel

Process edit

Once a suitable referendum has been identified and proposed, the process starts when a single leading proposer submits the following documents for review:[4]

  • The main text of the referendum, limited to 100 words
  • The statement of reasons, limited to 1500 words
  • The model list of joint signers

The Review Commission has 10 days to examine the referendum documents, which involves having the list of proposers checked within 7 days by the government agencies of household registration and the Central Election Commission , and affected government agencies and the Legislative Yuan have one month to promulgate position papers. After the examination,

, which must be at least 5% of the total electors who voted in the latest election for President and Vice President

Qualifications edit

Every proposer (the leading proposer and all signatories on the list of proposers) for a referendum must:

  • Be at least 20 years old.[5] This requirement was amended in 2006 and 2009.
  • Have resided in the jurisdiction (municipality or county, for local referendums) for at least 6 months[6]

In addition to the above qualifications, signers may be rejected from the list of qualified signatures for the following reasons:[7]

  • The name or address of the joint signer is recorded wrongly or unclearly
  • The ID card number of the joint signer is not provided, or is wrong or unclear
  • The signature of the joint signer is forged

Impact edit

Reform edit

References edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ "Referendum Act: Legislative History". Laws & Regulations Database of The Republic of China. November 14, 2014. Retrieved November 26, 2014.
  2. ^ "Article 17, Section II". Constitution of the Republic of China. December 25, 1946. Retrieved November 26, 2014.
  3. ^ Referendum Act of 2003 (09200242031, 2) (in English (translated)). 31 December 2003. Retrieved December 10, 2014.{{cite report}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  4. ^ Article 9, Referendum Act of 2003
  5. ^ Article 7, Referendum Act of 2003
  6. ^ Article 8, Referendum Act of 2003
  7. ^ Articles 14 and 15, Referendum Act of 2003

Bibliography edit

External links edit

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