Lawmakers were reminded yesterday that a proposal to outlaw the publication of opinion polls for five days preceding elections was still languishing in the legislature, and had been for a year.
The nudge to memory comes amid complaints from defeated legislators that opinion polls cost them their legislative seats.
Deputy Minister of the Interior Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋) said that the proposal had been submitted to the Legislative Yuan a year ago.
Saying that many legislative candidates who were leading according to opinion polls but lost in the vote, one such candidate -- lawmaker Lin Jih-jia (林志嘉) -- in an address to the Legislative Yuan, urged the Cabinet to bar publication of poll results preceding elections.
Lin, a former KMT member, stood as an independent for the Taipei County II constituency in the Dec.1 legislative election.
Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) responded by expressing "100 percent support" for such revision.
He said that the Cabinet wished to make elections fairer for candidates.
Chairman of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) Huang Shi-Chen(黃石城) said the draft proposal is already with the Legislative Yuan."
Deputy interior minister Lee later said, the legislature had not dealt with the proposal although it was submitted to the legislature a year ago.
The Central Electoral Commission's proposal is a draft amendment to the Public Officials Election and Recall Law, which currently contains no provisions on the publication of opinion polls.
Opinion poll results may not be published, however, during the 10 day period preceding a presidential election, under the Presidential and Vice Presidential Recall Law.
Besides Lin, high-profile KMT, New Party, and independent legislative candidates, including Ting Shou-chung (
They say the polls led many supporters to believe that their votes weren't needed.
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