Penghu voted down a similar plan
Voters in Taiwan’s Kinmen County will head to the polls October 28 to decide whether to permit casino development on the island, the Taiwan News reported.
According to the Offshore Islands Development Act, six areas outside Taiwan’s main island may hold local plebiscites to decide on casino development. The plan will be passed as long as ballots reach 50 percent in favor, the publication added.
In 2009, Taiwan lifted a 15-year ban in the outlying islands of Kinmen, Matsu and Penghu. The residents of Penghu have voted twice against casinos; in the latest vote, in October 2016, 81 percent of voters opposed such a plan.
In a July 2012 referendum, residents of Matsu Island voted to allow casinos in a bid to boost tourism, but the required enabling legislation has stalled at the national level, the News reported.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party has expressed her party’s opposition to casinos in the nation. Registered residents in Kinmen number about 140,000, but only 60,000 people actually live on the island.
According to GGRAsia, the Kinmen Anti-casinos Alliance has criticized the wording of the referendum, saying it is “strongly persuading” and “unclear in terms of the definitions.” The group also accused the Kinmen Election Committee of “malfeasance” and partisanship.
