Taiwan CEC approves nuclear-free homeland referendum, KMT launches nationwide campaign tours

The Central Election Commission recently held a committee meeting to review several high-profile national referendum proposals. Among them, the "Abolish the Nuclear-Free Homeland" referendum, which concerns the nation's energy trajectory and industrial development, was officially declared successfully formed. Meanwhile, two other proposals that had also garnered significant attention from all sectors of society—namely "Introducing Corporal Punishment (Fencing/Caning) into the Law" and "Earmarking Traffic Fines Exclusively for Road Safety Improvements"—were declared unsuccessful for failing to meet the relevant statutory thresholds and requirements. With the CEC's review results finalized, public policy discussions and partisan political maneuvering in the country have entered a completely new phase, sounding the clarion call for the upcoming referendum battles.

In response to the successful formation of the "Abolish the Nuclear-Free Homeland" referendum, the main opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), immediately demonstrated high ambition and mobilization capacity. Shortly after the review results were released, the KMT Central Headquarters publicly stated that it plans to comprehensively roll out grassroots referendum campaigns across the country, scheduling up to more than one hundred local stump speeches. This demonstrates the KMT's intention to use this referendum as a political leverage point to regroup grassroots party energy and, through direct dialogue with civil society, transform the controversy over energy policy into a comprehensive examination of the ruling party's governance performance.

Regarding its campaign strategy, the KMT has adopted a diversified operational model combining traditional and innovative approaches. In addition to utilizing its traditionally strong local organizational system—combining local party chapters and elected representatives to hold physical explanatory meetings and conduct "ground warfare" deep within neighborhoods and alleys—it is also fully targeting the current mainstream digital communication ecosystem, planning to launch a series of short-form social media videos aimed at the younger generation and internet users. This strategy of intertwining and mutually boosting central-level "air war" issue-framing and local grassroots "ground mobilization" aims to maximize promotional effectiveness and break out of ideological echo chambers.

The KMT's core appeal in this campaign is very clear: to fully urge all Taiwanese citizens to actively strive to cast an affirmative vote on polling day to abolish the nuclear-free homeland. For a long time, Taiwan's energy policy, stability of power supply, and carbon emission targets have been focal points of high anxiety for both the industrial sector and the general public. The KMT hopes to use this referendum to translate public dissatisfaction with the risks of power shortages, rising electricity prices, and air pollution into concrete ballot-box actions, thereby challenging the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government's long-standing, steadfast "nuclear-free homeland" dogma and taking the lead in public opinion regarding energy issues.

Reviewing Taiwan's recent history of referendums—from the early debates over the fourth nuclear power plant and "nuclear energy as the promoter of green energy," to the current proposal to abolish the nuclear-free homeland—energy policy has consistently been the public issue in Taiwanese society with the highest degree of polarization and mobilization capacity. Each referendum is not merely a choice of policy direction, but also an important midterm examination of the political strength of the ruling and opposition parties. With the KMT's wave of a hundred campaign speeches officially launched, it is anticipated that in the period ahead, the ruling and opposition camps will inevitably engage in even more fierce battles concerning energy transition, power supply security, and carbon reduction pathways. This will once again test the rational deliberation and public opinion trends of Taiwan's democratic society when confronting complex public policies.