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TAIPEI, Taiwan – Last year, when Taiwan passed a law facilitating the proposal and adoption of referendum questions, President Tsai Ing-wen described this event as a "historic moment" in the transition from a military dictatorship to an open democracy.
She had more than she had expected Saturday, while a record number of 10 questions were asked to voters. Their responses simultaneously undermined Taiwan's reputation as one of the most progressive societies in Asia, angered many young Taiwanese, and inadvertently supported Beijing's claims that Taiwan was part of its territory.
The rights of homosexuals were one of the major problems of the election campaign – and the subject of half of the referendum issues -. Voters voiced overwhelming opposition to same-sex marriage, despite a court ruling last year that restricting marriage to heterosexual couples was unconstitutional. Voters also supported the removal of the content related to homosexuality from the textbooks of the primary school.
Many voters in Taiwan, including young voters, were stunned by the results of the referendum, including Mike Zhang, a 25-year-old project manager in Taipei.
"We thought we were living in a progressive and open country," he said, "but after noting the disparity in the referendum, we found out that we lived in a place we did not recognize."
While Ms. Tsai's Progressive Democratic Democrats, who have been in power since 2016, have behaved badly, the referendums themselves have had a broader purpose, as one of the few tools that Taiwan can to divert from Mainland China.
Among the questions of the referendum, however, was the question of how Taiwan should be called to the Olympic Games and other international sporting events. In an agreement concluded in 1981 with the International Olympic Committee, Taiwan agreed to participate in the competition under the name "Chinese Taipei". But in recent years, the Taiwanese people have have sought to assert their identity and a referendum question has been asked as to whether the island should compete as "Taiwan".
This proposal failed after an election campaign announcing that this could lead to the ban on Olympic competition in Taiwan under Chinese pressure. The result of the referendum could allow Beijing to argue that the Taiwanese are very happy to be identified as Chinese.
The Chinese Communist Party claims Taiwan as its territory, though it has never ruled the island. The Taiwan government, officially known as the Republic of China, is the vestige of the Kuomintang government, which fled to the island in 1949 after being defeated by communists during the Chinese civil war.
The Kuomintang made Taiwan an authoritarian party-state, proclaiming martial law until 1987. The democratization of the 1990s paved the way for greater freedom in the debate over Taiwan's history. the emergence of a Taiwanese identity distinct from the Chinese identity that the Kuomintang, which had sought for decades to take back China, had imposed on the Taiwanese people.
Few Taiwanese describe the island of the Republic of China except on official occasions, but the mainland government cites the name as supporting its land claim. Beijing said any change of official name in "Taiwan" would collide with a military attack.
It is partly for this reason that Taiwan's referendum law prohibits the public from asking questions about issues of national sovereignty such as the name, flag and territory of the island. The president can, however, refer these issues to referendum in situations of existential urgency, such as an impending takeover by mainland China.
While the Progressive Democratic Party has always favored independence, it does not seek to hold a referendum on independence. But by voting on other issues and integrating them into Taiwan's political culture, the government is creating the infrastructure and legitimacy to hold an emergency referendum in the future.
"Saturday's referendum reinforces a long-time president, D.P.P. institutionalize referendums, "said Michael Fahey, legal consultant based in Taipei. "The main sections of the D.P.P. I've always wanted to have a referendum law in case a referendum on self-determination is needed, there will be a mechanism in place to do it. "
Kolas Yotaka, spokesman for the government and former legislator who voted for the new referendum law last year, said the public had to repeatedly complain about Saturday's referendums, including the large number of questions asked.
"We think that next time we will have to improve the explanations on the content of the referendums," Kolas said in an interview. "We also did not have enough time to have enough public debate."
The referendum issues on gay rights were the subject of a well-funded and highly organized campaign by conservative Christians and other groups. the The campaign was characterized by misinformation, most of which was broadcast online, including messages pointing to an AIDS epidemic and low birth rates, or indicating that educating students about different sexual orientations would influence their sexual choices. .
The Marriage Equality Coalition Taiwan, an alliance of gay rights organizations, said the government had not done enough to quell the misinformation online that it had told voters "Frightened and manipulated".
"While the government sat and watched the spread of false information, groups and civic organizations of the LGBT + + group engaged in a difficult battle, unfairly manipulated by money, power, and power. policy, "the group said in a statement.
The government has three months to introduce bills reflecting the results of the referendum. Although the vote against same-sex marriage does not affect the court's decision, legislators may be more inclined to offer homosexual couples a separate status as a civil union rather than the same legal status as heterosexual married couples.
Three of the referendum questions concerned energy policy, with voters favoring a reduction in the use of coal and stopping the construction of coal-fired power plants. They also voted in favor of the repeal of legislation that would have put an end to all nuclear energy production by 2025, due in particular to the concern that, without nuclear energy, air pollution would worsen in southern Taiwan, which provides the majority of electricity in Taipei and in other northern cities.
"The referendums clearly show that Taiwan wants to clean up the air and less coal," said Nate Maynard, a consultant for the Taipei-based Chung-Hua Economic Research Institution. "However, the referendum questions never focused on the core of Taiwan's energy problems: opaque politics and artificially cheap energy."
Opposition to the Kuomintang appears to have benefited from referendums on issues such as gay marriage that galvanized conservative voters: the party performed well in the local elections that also took place on Saturday.
"The Kuomintang and some conservative forces have very intelligently recognized that if they develop resolutions that are of particular interest to certain interest groups, they could perhaps mobilize all these people and hope that they would have the same opinion and vote for the K.M.T. candidates, "said Fahey.
The Democratic Progressive Party lost the municipal elections in the three largest cities of Taiwan. Tsai, who plans to re-run for re-election in 2020, resigned as head of the party when the scale of her losses became evident.
Ms. Kolas said that despite the results of the referendum, the government was "very happy" to hear the voice of the electorate.
"What's important is to give people the opportunity to express their opinions," she said.
