Legislative Yuan

TAIWAN: KMT TO START CAMPAIGN ON REFERENDUM AGAINST END TO DEATH PENALTY

March 16, 2025:

The major opposition Kuomintang (KMT) will launch a campaign to hold a referendum against the abolition of death penalty, KMT Chairman Eric Chu said on March 7, 2025.
Chu said the KMT's decision makers, its think tank and its caucus of national lawmakers reached a consensus to start a referendum campaign aimed at opposing an end to death penalty by organizing meetings around Taiwan to secure support from the public.
Chu did not explicitly explain why the KMT was making the move, but KMT lawmakers have advocated pushing referendums to counter the recall motions being pushed by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) against them.
KMT Legislator Lo Chih-chiang told local media on March 6 that the KMT has passed many bills that "reflect popular opinion but the DPP has objected every time," and it decided to let the people decide.
It chose the death penalty issue, he said, because it has been one of the most talked-about topics recently.
The KMT has long opposed getting rid of the death penalty, and its stance became more visible after the Legislative Yuan rejected seven nominees selected by President Lai Ching-te to fill vacancies on the Constitutional Court in December 2024.
That refusal to confirm Lai's nominees came after the Constitutional Court handed down a ruling on a death penalty case in September that the KMT denounced as effectively ending capital punishment in Taiwan in all but name.
The KMT accused the Constitutional Court of making a "hypocritical" ruling that limits the use of the death penalty and fails to deliver justice to victims.
KMT's 52 lawmakers and the two independents ideologically aligned with the party all voted against the nominees picked by Lai at the end of August.
They were joined by the eight lawmakers who belong to the smaller opposition Taiwan People's Party that give the opposition a 62-51 majority over the DPP in the 113-seat Legislative Yuan.
Chu described the issue of whether or not to abolish the death penalty as "important" and said the government should allow the public to express their opinions.
Though he did not explicitly link the referendum plan to the DPP's recall motions, he said the KMT was planning to hold events around Taiwan to strengthen the public's understanding of the party's position on capital punishment, leading up to a referendum.