Taipei, July 5 (CNA) Taiwan's Central Election Commission (CEC) said Monday that its draft bill on absentee voting is not expected to be enacted before a national referendum is held at the end of the year, which means that is unlikely to be an option for voters.
Furthermore, the CEC will need at least six months to train its poll workers in preparation for an absentee voting system, CEC head Lee Chin-yung said, during a meeting with a delegation from the opposition Kuomintang (KMT), which called for absentee voting to be allowed in the Dec. 18 referendum.
Two of the four questions on the referendum ballot were initiated by the KMT, asking voters whether Taiwan should revoke a new regulation that allow imports of pork containing traces of the controversial livestock drug ractopamine and whether referendums should again be held in conjunction with general elections.
During the meeting with Lee, KMT Legislator Cheng Li-Wun noted that while Article 25 of the Referendum Act says absentee voting in a referendum can be allowed under a system "prescribed in a separate law," no such law has yet been enacted.
Cheng said the KMT, therefore, is asking the Legislative Yuan to hold an extraordinary session to process the CEC's draft bill, so that absentee voting may be allowed in the referendum on Dec. 18.
In response, Lee said the CEC's draft bill was sent to the Cabinet in May 2020 and has not yet been approved at that level.
"We don't think it will be ready before the end of the year," Lee told the KMT delegation, adding that perhaps absentee voting will be an option in the next national referendum on Aug. 13, 2023.
According to Lee, the CEC's draft bill proposes allowing absentee voting in a national referendum only if voters are unable to return to the city or county in which they are registered. No agreement has been reached on whether to allow voting online or from overseas, he said, citing fraud and security concerns.
After the KMT's meeting with the CEC, the party's legislative caucus filed an official request for the Legislature to hold an extraordinary session July 7-16 to process the CEC's draft bill.
However, Cabinet spokesman Lo Ping-cheng had said last week that the draft bill was still under review by the Cabinet and would be sent to the Legislature after its summer recess.
Lawmakers held an extraordinary legislative session June 7-18, and it was not clear whether they would be open to scheduling another one before the regular session resumes in September.
The national referendum on four questions was scheduled for Aug. 28, but the CEC last week postponed it to Dec. 18, citing challenges related to the current COVID-19 situation in Taiwan.
Along with the two questions initiated by the KMT, voters will also be asked about the fate of the mothballed 4th nuclear power plant in New Taipei and whether construction of a liquefied natural gas terminal should be stopped to protect a coastal algal reef.
Under Taiwan's current law, referendums can only be held every two years, on the fourth Saturday of August.
