By Ben Blanchard
TAIPEI (Reuters) -A referendum to push for the re-opening of Taiwan’s last nuclear plant failed on Saturday to reach the legal threshold to be valid, though the president said the island could return to the technology in the future if safety standards improve.
The plebiscite, backed by the opposition, asked whether the Maanshan power plant should be re-opened if it was “confirmed” there were no safety issues. The plant was closed in May as the government shifts to renewables and liquefied natural gas.
The small Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) proposed the referendum earlier this year, and with the backing of the much larger Kuomintang (KMT) passed the legislation for the vote, saying Taiwan needs reliable power supplies and not to be so reliant on imports.
Around 4.3 million people voted in favour of the plant’s re-opening in the referendum, a clear majority over the 1.5 million who voted against, figures from the Central Election Commission showed.
But the motion needed the backing of one quarter of all registered electors – around 5 million people – to get through under electoral law, meaning the plant on Taiwan’s southern tip will not re-open.
Taiwan’s government says there are major safety concerns around generating nuclear power in earthquake-prone Taiwan and handling nuclear waste.
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te told reporters on Saturday evening that while the referendum had failed, he understood “society’s expectations for diverse energy options”.
“If in the future, the technology becomes safer, nuclear waste is reduced, and societal acceptance increases, we will not rule out advanced nuclear energy,” he added.
In a separate vote on Saturday, electors rejected the recall of seven KMT lawmakers.
A larger recall vote, to try and oust 24 lawmakers from the same party, also failed last month.
Civic groups who had run the recall campaigns, with the backing of Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), accused the lawmakers of being too close to China and intentionally trying to snarl government spending and legislation, charges the legislators strongly denied.
Lai said Premier Cho Jung-tai had asked many times to resign after the failure of the recall votes in July, but he had asked Cho to stay on.
There will be a cabinet reshuffle to make the team more efficient and governance more effective, Lai added.
The two opposition parties together form a majority in parliament, though the DPP controls the presidency and hence the government in Taiwan’s system.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Jeanny Kao; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
