Anyone remember the KMT’s whining and moaning when the Chiang Kai-shek airport was renamed Taipei-Taoyuan International? Just think of the staggering expense, they kvetched. Signs have to be replaced. New letterhead needs to be re-ordered. Staff will have to throw out all those preprinted envelopes.
Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.
Well, lo and behold, the same KMT that claims the economy’s in the dumper is now demanding the referendums on joining the U.N. be held independently of the presidential election. And they’re threatening to old their breath until they turn blue call on their voters to boycott the referendums if they don’t get their way.
Would it be unfair to point out that holding the referendum on a separate day would cost mucho dinero? Whatever could have happened to all those virtuous KMT penny-pinchers? After all, under their party’s proposal, voting halls would have to be rented – a second time. Election workers would have to volunteer their time – again. And economic production would fall, because voters would have to take time off work – yet again.
It’d be most instructive to see estimates as to how much Taiwan’s 81 Tyrants plan to squander in this cynical ploy to see the referendums fail for lack of sufficient turnout.*
* By law, a 50% voter turnout is required for the U.N. referendums to be valid. A party that was genuinely interested in seeing the referendums pass would be happy to have them held on the same day as the presidential election, since voter turnout during Taiwanese presidential elections tends to be higher than for other kinds of election.