Taipei: A referendum on restarting Taiwan’s Third Nuclear Power Plant evoked a range of responses on Saturday, as a majority of participants supported the extension, but low voter turnout prevented it from achieving the necessary affirmative threshold.

According to Focus Taiwan, the Central Election Commission (CEC) reported that out of the 5,906,370 ballots cast, 4,341,432 people (74 percent) voted “yes,” while 1,511,693 (26 percent) voted “no.” Despite an overall turnout of 29.53 percent, the number of affirmative votes fell short of the required 25 percent of eligible voters, or 5,000,523 ballots, for approval.

Anti-nuclear groups criticized the referendum as an act of “political manipulation,” claiming that many anti-nuclear supporters abstained as a protest against perceived unfair political tactics. According to the National Nuclear Abolition Action Platform, the referendum was expedited by the legislature, lacked widespread citizen support, and provided insufficient public information.

The Green Cit
izens’ Action Alliance commented that the results underscored the limitations of party-driven mobilization, noting that efforts by the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) did not result in meeting the turnout requirement. Pingtung County Magistrate Chou Chun-mi of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) highlighted that over 70 percent of eligible voters abstained, indicating broad public disapproval of extending Maanshan’s operation.

Conversely, TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang pointed out that the “yes” votes were nearly triple the “no” votes, suggesting strong societal support for nuclear energy despite the low turnout. In Pingtung County, where the Maanshan Nuclear Plant is located, affirmative votes significantly outnumbered negative ones, reflecting local acceptance of nuclear power as a stable energy source.

Huang mentioned that the TPP plans to propose amendments to the Referendum Act in the next legislative session to dismantle the “caged referendum” system, aiming to bett
er protect popular sovereignty. He argued that the DPP effectively restricted the referendum process in 2019 by mandating that national referendums occur every two years on the fourth Saturday of August, rather than aligning with national elections.

KMT lawmaker Su Ching-chuan stated that, despite not reaching the legal threshold, the majority vote in favor of extending Maanshan clearly indicates public sentiment that the government should take into account.