CONDEMNED:The KMT slammed the rejections, saying the CEC decided on behalf of 23 million people, while the TPP said it brought shame to Taiwan’s democratic systemBy Hsu Yung-ching / Staff reporter請繼續往下閱讀...The Central Election Commission （CEC） yesterday announced it has approved holding a referendum on nuclear power, but rejected proposals on caning and traffic fines.The Legislative Yuan on Aug. 14 approved three referendums: introducing caning as a criminal punishment, abolishing the government’s nuclear-free homeland policy and using traffic fines to improve road safety.The commission met for more than two and a half hours, and ruled that the referendum on caning did not meet the requirements of the Referendum Act （公民投票法）, CEC Chairman Michael You （游盈隆） said.The caning proposal, put forward by the Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT）, seeks to introduce caning as a punishment for sexual assault, crimes against children, large-scale fraud and aggravated fraud.However, caning or similar forms of corporal punishment are not recognized under Taiwan’s criminal justice system, You said.The CEC therefore determined that the proposal amounted to creating new legislative principles, and was not a referendum on the initiation or repeal of a major policy, as defined by the act, he added.The proposal involves using state power to inflict physical pain on prisoners and is considered by many countries to be cruel, inhuman and a violation of human dignity, he said.That would contravene the Act Governing Execution of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights （公民與政治權利國際公約及經濟社會文化權利國際公約施行法）, which states that no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, he added.Of the eight CEC members, seven voted that the caning proposal did not qualify as a referendum, said You, who chaired the meeting, adding that he did not cast a vote.Regarding the Taiwan People’s Party’s （TPP） proposed referendum on earmarking traffic fines exclusively for road-related purposes, four commission members found that it did not meet the requirements of the Referendum Act, he said.The commission held three rounds of voting, with the same 4-3 split each time, he added.As for the proposal to repeal Taiwan’s nuclear-free homeland policy, six CEC members supported the referendum, with one abstention, You said.The CEC ruled that the proposal meets the requirements of the Referendum Act, he said, adding that the referendum vote would be held on Nov. 28, alongside the local elections.The KMT caucus condemned the CEC’s decision to reject the two proposals, saying that referendums exist to give people a direct say when a country faces major disputes over public policy.“Yet what has happened now is that whether people want to vote no longer matters, and neither does whether the Legislative Yuan approves the proposal,” it said. “Instead the CEC has decided on behalf of 23 million people: ‘You are not entitled to answer this question.’”“Is this direct democracy, or the direct confiscation of democracy?” it asked.The TPP slammed You, saying he had claimed that “referendums submitted by the Legislative Yuan should be approved in principle and rejected only as an exception.”“Yet he has now turned that exception into a pretext for arbitrarily expanding his powers, abandoning his principles as an academic, enabling the ruling party to flout the law and obstructing the public’s right to initiate referendums,” it said. “Such actions have brought shame on Taiwan’s democratic constitutional system.”Additional reporting by Lin Hsin-han新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
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