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eventVerified

A referendum to keep Maanshan running fails the turnout threshold on the second recall ballot

On 23 August 2025 voters also faced a referendum asking whether Maanshan should continue to operate if the competent authority found no safety concern. A majority of those who voted said yes, but turnout missed the legal threshold, so the proposal did not pass. In the causal graph this event weakens the driver Nuclear-Energy Deployment.

Sources: [1][2]

Read the full account

On 23 August 2025 voters also faced a referendum asking whether Maanshan should continue to operate if the competent authority found no safety concern. A majority of those who voted said yes, but turnout missed the legal threshold, so the proposal did not pass. Seven remaining KMT recall bids failed the same day. He did not sit as CEC. A later Taipower restart application is a child.

Context

17 May shutdown sat as parent. Neighbouring 26 July recall wave is parent polarisation. The DPP did not campaign as a nuclear-restart party. He later allowed feasibility work; that is a child.

17 May Maanshan-2 is the parent shutdown. 26 July recalls are neighbouring civic polarisation.

The president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) is head of state under the Additional Articles and commander-in-chief. He does not write a PLA communique, a TSMC capex print, or a Legislative Yuan majority. A National Day address is not a completed interceptor. An inaugural line is not a PLA missile. A special-act press conference is not a passed statute. William Lai is a common English name for the same person; the stored English name is Lai Ching-te.

Why it matters

The path is polarisation and nuclear-energy deployment: a completed civic instrument that neither restarted the plant nor ended the fight.

Who was responsible

Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.

  • Lai Ching-te

    Person

    Direct responsibility

    responsibility level 0.4 · verified

    Petitioners put the question. CEC canvassed. He owned the energy line. Taipower later filed child restart papers.

What changed

Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.

    1. FactA referendum to keep Maanshan running fails the turnout threshold on the second recall ballot
    2. weakensDriverNuclear-Energy Deployment

    impact weight 0.4 · Effect from 23 August 2025 · verified

    Failing the threshold left the shutdown in place as dated nuclear-capacity weather.

    1. FactA referendum to keep Maanshan running fails the turnout threshold on the second recall ballot
    2. strengthensDriverPolitical Polarization
    3. weakensIndicators (2)Having a say in government
    Worsening path

    impact weight 0.5 · Effect from 23 August 2025 · verified

    A completed nuclear-restart ballot stacked on a recall wave is dated polarisation.

    • Having a say in government

      via Political Polarization

      Worse

      Weakens · Relationship strength 0.23 (weight 0.5 × strength 0.45)

      Observed

      29.8% of population aged 16-65 years · 8.13 below the normal line (2023)

      Worse than normal

      Two readings: 30.2% of population aged 16-65 years (2021) and 29.8% of population aged 16-65 years (2023).

      20212023

      Above normal = better

    • Rule of Law Gap from the Highest Governance Score

      via Political Polarization

      Worse

      Strengthens · Relationship strength 0.23 (weight 0.5 × strength 0.45)

      Observed

      43.9 Score · 43.9 above the normal line (2024)

      Worse than normal

      26 readings, 1996–2024: rose from 43 Score to 43.9 Score.

      Normal is zero · any amount = worse

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified2 sources on file
  1. 1.The Diplomat — Taiwan’s Great Recall Movement is officially over (including the nuclear ballot)The Diplomat · High credibility · verified
  2. 2.Central Election Commission — 2025 legislator recall votesCentral Election Commission Taiwan · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish

Central Election Commission Taiwan carries the official instrument or communique. The Diplomat records the same dated act independently.

Established: 23 August 2025 referendum failed the turnout threshold, independently reported.

Not established: that every later restart application was thereby barred, or a unique later kWh coefficient from that Saturday.

CEC canvassed. He owned the energy line. Taipower later filed child restart papers.. A later repeal, court stay, or successor order would be a different Fact with a different date. That pair identifies A referendum to keep Maanshan running fails the turnout threshold on the second recall ballot, not a later speech about A referendum to keep Maanshan running fails the turnout threshold on the second recall ballot.

Co-authors and later implementers named in Context remain on the file. If a later repeal, stay, or successor instrument exists, it needs its own date and its own row. The contribution described on this Person row is limited to Petitioners put the question. CEC canvassed. He owned the energy line. That limit is the alternative to treating office-holding as authorship of every later series.

Causal path

How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.

  1. ActorLai Ching-te
  2. contributed toFactA referendum to keep Maanshan running fails the turnout threshold on the second recall ballot
  3. weakensDrivers (2)Nuclear-Energy Deployment

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). A referendum to keep Maanshan running fails the turnout threshold on the second recall ballot. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/tw-lai-nuke-ref-2025

https://factrail.ai/facts/tw-lai-nuke-ref-2025

Accessed 15 October 2026.

By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed

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