Taiwan will vote on scrapping its nuclear-free homeland policy alongside the year-end elections, a win for the opposition parties that pushed it and a cost of over NT$800 million to taxpayers.

• The election commission cleared only one of three opposition referendum proposals: repealing the nuclear phase-out policy.
• It was judged the only one that counts as a vote on major national policy under the referendum law.
• The proposals for caning as punishment and for earmarking traffic fines were both rejected, the traffic-fine one by a single vote.
• Running the referendum will cost more than NT$800 million, with counting expected to finish close to midnight on election night.
• About 100,000 people will be voting for the first time this year.

Outlook: The nuclear question now becomes a live campaign issue heading into the year-end vote, with energy policy set to dominate the debate.