Taiwanese voters headed to the voting booths today, a mere 95 days after the Legislative Yuan passed on 20 May to hold a national referendum on restarting the Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant. This is the first national referendum held without a public petition, after the majority-holding Taiwan People’s Party and the Kuomintang proposed and approved it in the Legislative Yuan.

The final results are in: with the number of “yes” votes failing to reach the 5 million threshold, and an overall turnout of less than 30%, the referendum did not pass. 

Lowest turnout in a national referendum after thresholds lowered; results unrepresentative

Since major amendments to the Referendum Act in 2017 lowered the thresholds to hold referendums and kick-started a wave of nation-wide votes, the past two large-scale referendums had turnout rates of 51% and 41%, respectively. In contrast, the turn-out today failed to reach even 30%, the lowest turnout of all 15 referendums since the amendments. 

In the past, even when referendums were decoupled from general elections, turnout rates always exceeded 40%. With this being the first referendum born out of sheer political manoeuvring within the Legislative Yuan and not supported by a public petition, it is unsurprising that the public was reluctant to vote.

The National Nuclear Abolition Action Platform (NNAAP) ran an active campaign throughout this referendum, disseminating the most up-to-date and accurate information on nuclear and the energy transition. The way this referendum was hastily initiated by the Legislative Yuan, however, was not conducive to proper public deliberation on the issue with sufficient information. More importantly, many supporters of the anti-nuclear movement expressed an unwillingness to participate in a procedurally and substantively unjust vote that partisanized the issue—another reason behind the low voter turnout. 

An unjust referendum: The fate of Pingtung should not be decided by non-residents

This referendum was not a vote on continuing the use of nuclear power in general, but specifically about whether to restart the Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant located in Pintung county. We see this as unfair and a violation of justice. 

Despite the low overall turnouts and strong political mobilization from the pro-restart camp, results in the communities and near the Maanshan Plant differed drastically from the rest of the nation. The turnout in Pintung county was the fourth highest overall and the highest among cities and counties that did not hold simultaneously recall votes, indicating a strong willingness from Pintung’s residents to express their voices on this issue. 

Furthermore, Pintung also had the highest percentage of “no” votes in Taiwan. Despite the strong pro-nuclear mobilization, there were still several areas across the country where “no” votes outnumbered the “yes” votes. These were the Gaoshu, Jiuru, Xinyuan, Kanding, Nanjhou, Linbian, and Wanluan townships, all located in Pintung County—demonstrating the strong disapproval of Pingtung residents of this referendum. 

Prior to the vote, the pro-nuclear camp vigorously boasted about unfounded opinion polls claiming that more than 75% of the people in Hengchun, Pintung agree with the restart. The results today show that the number of votes against the restart proposal in Hengchun is around 40%—10% higher than the national average.

All this evidence shows that the people of Pingtung are unwilling to have their fate decided by others. 

Next steps for the Legislative Yuan: Nuclear Safety Laws and Nuclear Waste Site Selection Legislation

This referendum has been widely criticized for its ambiguous language and its åredundance with the recently amended Nuclear Reactor Facilities Regulation Act. Besides wasting 1.1 billion New Taiwan Dollars of public funds, it remains unclear what this referendum has achieved. 

The referendum also showcases the Legislative Yuan’s inaction on substantive policy issues regarding nuclear. Other than lowering the requirements for extending old reactors, the current Legislative Yuan has not taken any action on nuclear safety. NNAAP has proposed our versions of legislation regarding nuclear safety and nuclear waste site selection. We call for Taiwan’s nuclear safety standards to be aligned with those of advanced countries and for the nuclear waste challenge to be addressed before discussing whether to continue the use of nuclear power. 

To all three parties in the Legislative Yuan: the low turnout and the rejection of restarting Maanshan today reveal how much the people disapprove of partisan catfights. We call on lawmakers to stop avoiding key nuclear safety and nuclear waste issues and do their job. Taiwan’s energy and climate policies should not become a battlefield of petty politics; these are serious issues that require all parties to put aside their own interests and work to address together.

---

The National Nuclear Abolition Action Platform (NNAAP) serves as the official office for civil society groups opposing the 2025 referendum on restarting the Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant. Established in 2013 after more than 220,000 people across the country took to the streets to demand for the termination of the Longmen Nuclear Power Plant and a nuclear-free homeland, the platform includes civic groups from diverse fields, including environmental protection, human rights, labor movements, education, gender, and social welfare. Membership of the platform is based on organizations and excludes political parties. The NNAAP currently consists of over 200 civic groups.