SINGAPORE: Taiwan will hold yet another referendum on nuclear energy policy alongside local elections in November, prompting questions on the role of direct polls in the island’s domestic politics.
As hustings for the Nov 28 “nine-in-one” elections heat up, referendums are one of the levers political parties are pulling to sway the island’s voters.
Experts say that these political considerations hold equal, if not greater, significance for the politicians involved.
The upcoming referendum on nuclear power will be the fourth on Taiwan’s nuclear policy in eight years, with the last one held just a year ago.
It asks whether “the government should abolish its ‘Nuclear-Free Homeland’ policy to protect public health, ensure stable and affordable electricity supplies, strengthen national defence resilience and support the development of artificial intelligence industries”?
Three proposed referendums were submitted to the Central Election Commission (CEC) this year, and only this one was approved. The CEC rejected a proposal for a referendum to legalise caning for serious crime, stressing that it would go against human rights.
The other referendum rejected was on using all revenue from traffic fines to improve road safety and subsidise public transport.
Using referendums to mobilise voters
While nuclear energy has long divided voters, there are legitimate reasons to think that public opinion on energy policy could have shifted since the August 2025 vote. This includes disruptions in the global oil supply by the closing of the Strait of Hormuz, and concerns that energy consumption is surging due to the AI boom.
But experts point to political reasons for proposing these referendums, which will be held with the November local elections, when nine types of officials, including county magistrates, will be elected on the same day across Taiwan.
The opposition parties – Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party – appear to believe that issues such as crime and nuclear energy can motivate some of their supporters, who are more likely to hold conservative views, to turn out.
There is historical precedent for that correlation, as in the 2018 local elections, when 10 national referendums were held on the same day, the KMT performed very strongly.
The higher turnout among those voters could benefit opposition candidates in close local races, said Qi Dongtao, senior research fellow at the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore (NUS).
“This electoral consideration is probably at least as important as the policy substance of the referendums themselves,” said Qi, who studies Taiwanese politics. “The caning proposal has indeed been discussed by KMT politicians partly in terms of its potential to mobilise voters in the November elections.”
Another motivation could be to create issues the opposition can rally support around in the upcoming local elections, political scientist Chong Ja Ian from NUS noted.
In Taiwan, according to the associate professor, Singapore is often regarded as a representation of law and order, as well as wealth. The KMT seeks to communicate “that they are trying to be tough on crime but are being held back by the DPP (Democratic Progressive Party) and Taiwan’s current laws”.
Too many referendums?
One Taiwanese legal expert told ST there are far too many referendums being held.
“Few countries hold such frequent national referendums in such a short period,” said associate professor Lin Jia-he from the College of Law at National Chengchi University.
He pointed out that in Switzerland, a national referendum takes about three to five years from the initial proposal to the final vote, allowing sufficient time for government agencies and the public to “deliberate and understand” before making a decision.
In comparison, the 2026 referendum was announced on Aug 28, and will be put to the vote on Nov 28, within a three-month period. Voters have no time to discuss the “rigorous, complex and diverse” energy policies and energy combinations, he said.
The number of referendums held increased sharply after 2017, when the threshold for holding and passing referendums was lowered.
Before the 2017 revision, a referendum was valid only if the turnout was at least 50 per cent. This was why former president Chen Shui-bian’s cross-strait relations referendums in 2004 failed even though an overwhelming majority of voters supported the two motions.
Now, a referendum passes if “Yes” votes exceed “No” votes, and valid “Yes” votes equal at least 25 per cent of the electorate.
Qi added that the more important problem is that political parties are motivated to propose highly contentious issues in order to attract public attention and mobilise their supporters.
“This can turn referendums from an instrument of direct democracy into another arena of partisan competition,” he said.
“Referendums should ideally be reserved for major questions on which there is a clear reason to seek direct popular authorisation, rather than being routinely used as an additional weapon in party competition.”
Voters are catching on and becoming sceptical of referendums. Taipei resident Sean Chang said there were good intentions behind holding referendums at first, but the public polls later became “a tool for each political party to manipulate public opinion”.
“It made me feel like I had to think about every issue from multiple perspectives, and after a while, I just stopped paying attention,” said Chang, 39, who is in public relations. He voted in November 2018, when there was a 10-question referendum held alongside local elections.
A total of 11,051 local public officials will be on the ballot in the “nine-in-one” elections.
The campaigning tends to focus on domestic issues, but how the island votes will be a bellwether for Taiwan’s national elections, which are due by 2028. - The Straits Times/ANN
