Taipei: Taiwan's Central Election Commission (CEC) on Friday approved a referendum on abolishing the government's nuclear-free energy policy for a vote alongside November's local elections, while rejecting proposals on judicial caning and the use of traffic fine revenue. CEC Chairman Michael You announced the decisions after a 2.5-hour meeting of the commission.
According to Focus Taiwan, the approved referendum asks whether the government should abolish its "Nuclear-Free Homeland" policy to protect public health, ensure stable and affordable electricity supplies, strengthen national defense resilience, and support the development of artificial intelligence industries. The policy was enshrined in the Basic Environment Act in 2002. After returning to power in 2016, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) pursued a phaseout of nuclear power that was completed in May 2025 when the Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant's final reactor was shut down.
The upcoming referendum will be Taiwan's fourth on nuclear power since 2018. In 2018, voters supported removing a legal requirement to end nuclear power generation by 2025, but they rejected proposals to restart the mothballed Fourth Nuclear Power Plant and extend the operation of the Maanshan plant in referendums held in 2021 and 2025.
CEC Chairman Michael You stated that the commission rejected the other two proposals because they did not fall within the scope of matters that can be put to a referendum under Article 2 of the Referendum Act. One proposal sought to introduce judicial caning for offenses such as sexual assault, child abuse, and serious fraud crimes. The other proposal asked whether all revenue from traffic violation fines should be allocated for road safety improvements and public transportation subsidies instead of being used for automated traffic enforcement equipment.
The Legislature had approved all three referendum proposals on August 14 and forwarded them to the CEC for review. The caning proposal was supported only by the Kuomintang (KMT), which holds 52 of the Legislature's 113 seats. The KMT caucus criticized the CEC's rejection of the caning and traffic fine proposals, accusing the commission of restricting the public's right to direct democracy. Taiwan People's Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang also criticized the rejection of the traffic fine proposal, arguing that the decision infringed on citizens' constitutional rights.
You noted that the seven commissioners unanimously rejected the caning proposal, while the traffic fine proposal was rejected by a 4-3 vote. The nuclear policy proposal was approved 6-0, with one commissioner abstaining. You, who chaired the meeting, did not vote on the proposals. The nuclear policy referendum will be held alongside Taiwan's nine-in-one local elections on November 28, when voters will elect city and county leaders, local councilors, and other local officials.