Opposition parties promote referendum as 'step to govt change'

Representatives of parliamentary opposition parties have called on the public to support a referendum initiative which they say would be "a step towards changing the government". Peter Marki-Zay, prime ministerial candidate of the united opposition, called on voters to support the referendum "to stem corruption and poverty". One of the referendum's two questions aims to provide affordable housing for students as opposed to plans to construct a campus of Fudan University at the site. The other question is about the opposition's initiative to extend the period of unemployment benefits from three months to nine, which he said was the shortest in the European Union.