Friday, July 20, 2012

Referendum application will be heard: chairman

By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

The application for a referendum on the cross-strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) will be discussed on Wednesday as scheduled, despite the proposer withdrawing from a hearing yesterday, Referendum Review Committee chairman Chao Yung-mau (趙永茂) said.

Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝), the initiator of the referendum proposal, said Chao should, as committee chairman, not convene the hearing. Huang then withdrew from the hearing.

Huang filed an administrative lawsuit in the Taipei High Administrative Court after his application was vetoed by the committee last year, but the court dismissed his lawsuit.

Huang then took the case to the Supreme Administrative Court, which overruled the Taipei High Administrative Court, saying that the committee has to review the application.

The TSU chairman told a press conference yesterday that a July 10 meeting of the review committee, which discussed the agenda and process of the hearing, was illegal because committee members at the meeting were less than the required threshold of half of the total number of members.

The TSU would file a report to the Control Yuan and demand an investigation into illegal practices in related government agencies, including the Ministry of the Interior, he said.