Referendum with elections is best: speakerBy Sean Lin / Staff reporterLegislative Speaker You Si-kun touted the benefits of holding a referendum in 2022 along with the nine-in-one elections to deal with constitutional issues such as lowering the legal voting age and abolishing the Control Yuan and the Examination Yuan. Even though an amendment to the Referendum Act (公民投票法) last year decoupled referendums from national elections and stipulated that they be held every two years on the fourth Saturday of August starting next year, You said in an interview published on Wednesday by the Chinese-language Mirror Media magazine that separating constitutional referendums from national elections might not be a good idea. Legislative Speaker You Si-kun speaks at an event in Taipei on Thursday. Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei TimesTherefore, it would be “very difficult” for a referendum to pass if it were held independently from national elections, he said. You said that he met separately with the three opposition caucuses in April, and all of them agreed that the referendum for the proposed constitutional amendments should be held in tandem with the national elections.

Source: Taipei Times July 25, 2020 15:56 UTC