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Taiwan Quick Take

■ Election
US lawmakers voice support
Two more members of the US House of Representatives expressed in separate statements Tuesday their support for Taiwan's referendum, set for Saturday. Several other US House members have over the past few weeks voiced their support for Taiwan's referendum. Representative Howard Berman said in his statement that although Washington needs to seek Beijing's support on certain issues, trying to avoid irritating China should not be the basis of US foreign policy as this would effectively give Beijing veto power over US actions. Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said in her statement that the US should be proud to stand by the people of Taiwan at a time when they are preparing to cast ballots on issues that concern them.

■ Election
Poll workers to get time off
The Central Election Commission announced yesterday that all election affairs staff working this weekend will be given two days of leave to be used any time after the election. More than 16 million Taiwan citizens are eligible to vote in Saturday's presidential election as well as to cast ballots in Taiwan's first-ever nationwide referendum. The election staff's workload is expected to be heavier than usual as the nationwide referendum, on missile defense and relations with China, will be held simultaneously with the presidential election. According to the Referendum Law (公民投票法) passed last November, the referendum will be rendered invalid if fewer than 50 percent of eligible voters collect a referendum ballot. Taking a ballot, whether it is then cast or not, is counted as participation in the referendum.

■ Election
Exit poll planned, debated
While a TV station yesterday vowed to forge ahead with its plan to conduct the first nationwide exit poll for tomorrow's election, Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) called on the station to delay the release of its results until the Central Election Commission makes public its returns at 7:30pm. "We're not opposed to their plan since no existing law bans exit polls, but we'd like them to delay publishing its result because they have to take into consideration the consequences it would have on the political climate and the responsibility they have to society," Lin said. The cable news channel has planned to show the results of a poll of at least 16,500 people at 4:01pm tomorrow, one minute after polling stations close. The station, however, said that it might withhold the results if they appeared inaccurate. The Cabinet has expressed fears that such behavior might disturb the voting process and the result might cause controversy if not handled properly.

■ Society
Texts for foreign spouses
The Ministry of Education yesterday released a series of textbooks written for foreign spouses to help them adjust to Taiwanese society. The books will be sent to county and city governments around the country which run adult-education classes for foreign spouses. Topics in the books include home science, fitting in in a new environment, personal relations and traditions and customs. The books also provide information on how to use national health cards and how to make an appointment with a doctor. Latest statistics show that there are more than 300,000 foreign spouses in Taiwan.

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