以公民投票方式建立台灣共和國，是1990年代以來民主進步黨的重要主張。儘管〈中華民國憲法〉規定人民有創制、複決權，但由於中國國民黨反對台灣獨立，從而將公民投票視為「台獨」的等義詞，其乃對於公投的制度化選擇了反對的立場。在歷經了民主化的長期社會啟蒙過程後，國民黨幾乎退出了公投相關議題之陣地，而任由民進黨獨占改革的詮釋權。民進黨於2000年執政後，即致力於推動公投，並運用公投議題來凝聚支持者的向心力以鞏固其政權，當民進黨決定以全國性諮詢性公投來作為2004年總統選舉的政治動員工具，國民黨和親民黨則憑藉其在立法院的多數，以立法來約束民進黨的意圖與作為。〈公民投票法〉乃在藍綠兩大陣營的政治計算中誕生。而正因為主導〈公民投票法〉立法的國親兩黨，目的在於限制公投的舉辦，反而導致〈公民投票法〉成為人民實現直接民權的最大制度性障礙。

Establishing the Republic of Taiwan through plebiscite has been the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) major assertion. Owing to the Kuomingtong’s (KMT) position against independence of Taiwan, it equates referendum with pursuing independence and thus opposes institutionalization of referendum, regardless of the stipulation of the Constitution of the Republic of China that people are granted the initiative and referendum rights. Through the long term enlightening process of Taiwan’s democratization, the KMT has been silent to all plebiscite issues, and let the DPP dominate the interpretation of democratization. Since the DPP came into power in 2000, it has endeavored to promote institutionalization of direct democracy, by which it bands its supporters and consolidates its regime. When the DPP intended to hold a nation-wide consultative referendum as a political mobilization tool in the 2004 presidential election, the KMT and its ally, the People First Party (PFP), formed the majority in the Legislative Yuan, and they decided to regulate the DPP’s stratagem by legislation. The Referendum Act was born under the blue and green camps’ political calculation. Because the purpose for the KMT and the PFP was to confine referendum within the Referendum Act, the law has thus become the greatest institutional obstacle to realizing direct democracy.