Voters exhausted after long weeks of campaigning

The insults, insinuations and accusations that have characterized this year's campaigns have left voters with a severe case of election-fatigue.

Voters say candidates for public office have focused more on slinging mud than important policy issues.

As a result, many voters say they plan to stay away from polling booths today.

Duncan Tu (屠毅凱), 45, the manager of a Miaoli-based trading company, said he doesn't plan to vote for any candidate in today's legislative and county commissioner elections.

"For the past few months, all the parties have been busy calculating how many seats each may grab in the legislature," Tu said. "That shows just how committed they are to promoting the public's welfare."

Tu noted that the DPP and KMT, in particular, have blamed each other for the nation's ailing economy.

"But except for trading barbs, neither side has put forth a package to deal with the economic woes," Tu said. "I wish they could spare more of their energy for policy debate, so as to make good on their pledge to make Taiwan a better place to live."

To protest what he called a "dog-eat-dog" political culture, Tu said he would stay away from the polls.

Maggie Huang (黃靜宜), 30, an English teacher in Taichung City, is also frustrated. A mother of two toddlers, Huang said what rival camps have bickered over doesn't concern her or her neighbors.

"As ordinary citizens, we're more interested in how individual candidates will address issues such as education and unemployment, if elected," Huang said.

"But unfortunately, most have made little mention of either subject and their campaigns have revolved around the sovereignty row."

Huang said that though former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) has stumped hard for legislative candidates of the Taiwan Solidarity Union, she couldn't name a single one of them off the top of her head.

She said she hasn't decided whether to go to the polls today, saying it made no difference either way.

Chang Ching-piao (張清標), 80, a resident of Tucheng in Taipei County, said it was odd to see last year's major presidential contenders crisscrossing the country when they were not candidates themselves.

In addition to Lee, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) have been dubbed as the "four superstar campaigners."

"Every day I turn on the TV set, I see them giving speeches touting this or that candidate," Chang said. "It's like we're having another presidential race. Can't the candidates deliver the messages on their own?"

Chang, a former supporter of the opposition alliance, said that he was too old to vote this time around and was disappointed by the lack of harmony among the opposition camps.

Lin Shu-chuan (林淑娟), 36, who works for a travel agency in Taoyuan County, said she is looking forward to returning to normal life that has been disrupted by campaign activities.

Lin said she was tired of listening to candidates cruising throughout the neighborhood in sound trucks that blare out their names over and over again.

"I'm glad the hustle and bustle in connection to the elections will soon be over," she said.