What’s the deal with the referendum? Where can we get figures on how many voters took ballots and which way they marked them, if they did?
Last I heard they were saying about 60% of eligible voters collected ballots. That’s all I know, unfortunately.
Failed.
Only 45% of elegible voters participated, not meeting 50% threshhold.
In comparison, 80% of elegible voters voted for president.
gio.gov.tw/elect2004/vote2.htm [edited to include link]
Is there an official Web site or anything? Where did you get the information?
The news on the referendums is not so positive. The one on talks with China received fewer “agree” votes than Chen and Lu, and the one on defence received slightly more “agree” votes than the President and VP elect.
well, if it received more votes than the president, that means it’s over 50%, right? i’m still a little confused on exactly how many votes it needs to be considered valid…
CNN says both Ref’s failed because they both failed to reach a 50% threshold.
Yes, both referendum questions failed to get 50 percent of the vote.
So I got some votes after all…
They didn’t receive more than 50% of “agree” votes from eligible voters. Although they received “agree” votes from around 50% of those who voted in the election, the election turnout was close to 80%, so the votes in favour of the referendum propositions worked out at only around 45% each.
My head is beginning to spin from all the figures, so I’m afraid I’m not expressing this very clearly.
well i guess the important thing is that they had a referrendum in the first place. i think with a more substantial question on the ballot, trying to boycott it won’t work anymore.
Actually omni you’re expressing it wrongly 
The referendum needs to meet a 50% participation threshhold among all elegible voters, and then a majority yes vote among those who participated.
Only 45% of elegible voters cast ballots in the referendums (compared to 80% who cast a presidential ballot). Therefore the referendums failed, not meeting the 50% threshhold.
~90% of the referendum ballots were yes votes, but that is irrevelant.
Thanks, Cranky. I looked at their presidential results before but didn’t see a link for the referendum (it was a different page) and it never occured to me to go to the home page. (Duh!) 
My poor old noggin is getting fogged up (from figure fatigue and liquid celebration), and I barely know what I’m typing any longer, but suffice it to say that the referendum questions both failed to receive enough responses to be valid.
That will be a significant propaganda victory for Beijing, and could cause problems for Taiwan further down the road. It is also a blow for Chen that tempers the sweet taste of his victory in the election. Remember he said that he considered it more important for the people to endorse the referendum questions than to vote him back into office for another term.
[quote]I think with a more substantial question on the ballot, trying to boycott it won’t work anymore.
[/quote]
Flipper, please post an example of a “more substantial question on the ballot.”
Thanks.
something like “do you approve of this new constitution?”. a question like “do you hate chinese missles?” is silly and it makes it easy for the opposition to just boycott it. there was absolutely no reason for a pro-kmt person to vote for or against the symbolic wording of the referendum this time around.
i don’t think it’s that big of a defeat. the referendum went forward and people voted in it. the ground is set for future referendums.
For the referndum to be valid, 50% of the electorate (or whatever you call it) must place their votes. The electorate in Taiwan is around 16.5 Mill people - leass than 7.5 Mill. cast their votes in the referendum - less than 50% of the total eligible voters.
Do you see now; how the anti-democratic ways of the bleue camp is working by ASKING PEOPLE NOT to pick up their ballot in the referendum, and then rendering it invalid.
HOTTALA!!!
Here is a personal note:
Hell to all that don’t condemn Lien&Soong’s attempts to void the presidet election.
X3M,
I think that’s a gross simplification of the matter.
All except the strongly partisan DPP supporters were against holding the referendum. But once the referendum was called, they were stuck between a rock and a place. A “no” vote would clearly send a disastrouslywrong message to China, so instead many abstained.
[quote=“fee”][quote]I think with a more substantial question on the ballot, trying to boycott it won’t work anymore.
[/quote]
Flipper, please post an example of a “more substantial question on the ballot.”
[/quote]
Try this one on. It would have been more effective.
“Should Taiwan declare independence from the Peoples republic of China, in order to seek it’s own destiny in the international community?”
The two questions were actually quite useless. More substantial issues would have been more widely accepted.
Now Chen has some trouble doesn’t he. His refferendum failed and he got into power. Wouldn’t tha end up calling for a vote of none confidence in other countries?
Ski
[quote=“ski”]Try this question on. It would have been more effective.
“Should Taiwan declare independence from the Peoples Republic of China, in order to seek it’s own destiny in the international community?”[/quote]
I believe you have fallen for the Chinese logic trap.
The facts of the matter are that Taiwan has never been a part of the PRC, hence there is no reason at all to declare independence from the PRC.
I realize that many people offer this as a more meaningful referendum question . . . . . however a closer look at history shows that it is illogical.
It is unfortunate that the both Chinese and Taiwanese persons are unable to view their history with more clarity . . . . . . . but of course a great deal of this has arisen from 50 years of KMT brainwashing . . . . . . . .