Interior minister open to talks on mandatory voting

Voting is a civil right, not a duty, Minister of the Interior Yu Cheng-hsien (余政憲) said yesterday at a legislative committee meeting.

Yu was responding to a question by DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-lang (蔡煌瑯) about his views on a recent proposal by some lawmakers that voting should be made compulsory or mandatory.

Yu said voting is basically a right that is enshrined in the country's Constitution, not a duty.

Nevertheless, Yu said, he does not oppose discussing the issue if legislators come up with a relevant bill.

Touching on the problems regarding absentee voting, Yu said that, if the legislature passes the relevant legislation, the Ministry of the Interior will certainly implement it.

The Legislative Yuan's Interior Affairs Committee began to screen an absentee-vote draft bill yesterday. But lawmakers from different parties remain divided over the issue.

Speaking at the session, opposition KMT Legislator Apollo Chen (陳學聖) said absentee voting involves many complicated problems and could have a profound impact on domestic political development.

"Therefore, we must exercise caution and prudence in enforcing the bill," Chen said.

"We might start by allowing citizens living in the country to enjoy the right of absentee voting and then gradually extend the right to those staying abroad," he suggested.

In his view, Chen went on, absentee voting can be experimented with in the year-end mayoral elections in Taipei and Kaohsiung, the nation's two largest cities.

In response, Central Election Commission (CEC) Chairman Huang Shih-cheng (黃石城) said the commission will adopt all necessary measures to make this possible, as long as the legislature passes the absentee voting bill in time.

During the session, DPP Legislator Chou Po-lun (周伯倫) suggested that the CEC should set up an ad hoc committee for inter-party consultations on the redrawing of constituencies for future legislative elections -- as part of the much-anticipated legislative reforms.

Huang agreed to Chou's proposal, saying that the CEC will do its utmost to help forge an inter-party consensus on constituency redrawing -- and to satisfy the demand of large and small parties alike.