Taipei, Oct. 23 (CNA) Vice President Annette Lu lighted a "referendum torch" at the southern tip of Taiwan Thursday to drum up support for a large rally scheduled for Saturday in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan.
Lu ignited the torch in front of the Oluanpi Lighthouse in Pingtung County, and later ran with 16 legislators for a kilometer before passing it to a torch relay team to continue the journey to Kaohsiung.
Delivering a speech before the run, the vice president said, "Although Taiwan has been moving toward democracy for quite some time, it has yet to promote a referendum."
She said that neighboring countries such as Japan, the Philippines, and South Korea have all conducted referendums, and holding a referendum is fairly common in the United States, adding that the Republic of China Constitution has endowed its people with the rights of election, recall, initiative and referendum and that when the people are not satisfied with the government's policy or the legislation passed by the Legislative Yuan, they can exercise their rights.
She expressed the hope that the Legislative Yuan will pass referendum legislation this session, adding that it is the obligation of legislators to pass the referendum legislation and that all voters should ask the legislators to do their duty.