The Cabinet yesterday called on township and village offices to hand out referendum notices to families or face punishment.
Township and village offices must hand out referendum notices to eligible voters two days before a national referendum is mounted according to the Referendum Law (
Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung (
They include Hsinchu County, Miaoli County, Taichung County, Taichung City and Yunlin County, all governed by the pan-blue alliance.
Lin said that that they had also received several phone calls complaining that people had either been intimidated or asked not to vote in the referendum or told that they'd be fined or thrown into jail if they erroneously cast the referendum ballots in the ballot box for president and vice president.
Voters who had not yet received the referendum notice were welcome to report the situation to the Central Election Commission by calling 02-2356-5458, Lin said.
Vice Premier Lin Hsin-i (
Responding to a TV station's plan to conduct the first nationwide exit poll for Saturday's election, Lin said that the Cabinet hoped the station would change its mind.
"We fear that such behavior might disturb the voting process and the result might cause controversy if not handled properly," he said. "We're also concerned about its accuracy and possible extreme responses the two competing camps might have if the result of the exit poll runs at odds with that made available by the CEC." However, since no existing laws bans exit polls, Lin said that the government could only hope the station would drop the idea.
The cable news channel has planned to show the results of a poll of at least 16,500 people at 4:01pm on Saturday, one minute after polling stations close. The station said, however, that it might withhold the results if they appeared inaccurate.
In related news, the premier's office yesterday issued a press release calling on the public to vote in the first national referendum, which is scheduled to be held alongside the presidential poll.
Yu said that the nation's democratic development would make a giant leap forward on Saturday as the people became the nation's genuine lord and master by exercising direct democracy.
"At this historic moment, however, we see some people are opposed to the referendum simply because they are opposed to the DPP administration," he said. "It not only gives China an opportunity to ridicule us, but also makes the international community doubt our resolve in pursuing democracy and fighting against China's hegemony."
If the referendum succeeds, Yu said that China would know more clearly about Taiwanese people's will and realize that a military buildup would not help cross-strait development nor correspond to people's interests.
"We hope everyone cherishes this golden opportunity and see politicians put aside their selfishness to march forward with us as well as the people," he said.
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