Taiwanese voters on Saturday narrowly rejected the four referendum questions put to them in a national vote characterized by a relatively low turnout and nearly identical vote margins on all four issues.
As of 7 p.m., the number of people who voted against the four referendums had all surpassed 4 million, with those who voted in favor of the referendums trailing behind at around 3.85 million, according to Central Election Commission data.
The four initiatives voted on include the issues of nuclear power, pork imports, conservation of algal reefs, and whether future referendums should be held concurrently with national elections.
Under Taiwan’s Referendum Act, a referendum only passes if an initiative is supported by at least one-quarter of all eligible voters and the “yes” votes exceed the “no” votes.
According to the Central Election Commission, there were 19,825,468 eligible voters, which meant that any of the initiatives needed at least 4,956,367 votes to have a chance to succeed.
President Tsai Ing-wen (???) of the Democratic Progress Party (DPP), which campaigned for a “no” vote in all four referendums, is expected to comment on the results at 7:30 p.m. at the Presidential Office.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel