"Confiscated Referendum" Case: Lee Chin-yung Forcefully Decouples Referendums from General Elections

In June 2019, shortly after Lee Chin-yung took over the Central Election Commission (CEC), the DPP used its parliamentary majority to forcefully amend the law, decoupling referendums from general elections and stipulating that referendums can only be held once every two years. This move stemmed from the DPP''s total defeat in the 2018 referendums; Lee''s administrative team fully cooperated with the amendment to "change the rules when they couldn''t afford to lose," substantially increasing the difficulty of referendum passage and participation. Public opinion slammed it as "confiscating direct democracy." This institutional destruction regressed the Referendum Act from "returning power to the people" back to a "caged referendum," revealing Lee''s true face as a "campaign operator" for the DPP rather than an "independent agency head."