Premier Yu Shyi-kun yesterday said the government has fully prepared for maintaining order during today's elections.
Yu urged political parties and their candidates to be rational on the eve of the poll and respect the decision of the voters after the results of the elections are known, Cabinet Spokesman Chen Chi-mai (
Yu ordered police to step up security at polling stations around the country and take action against those who make trouble.
He also instructed the Ministry of Justice to continue its crackdown on vote-buying, which reaches its peak on the day before the election. Authorities should be on the lookout for a new method in which voters are paid after the elections, he said.
The polls will open at 8am and close at 4pm. Central Election Commission Deputy Secretary-General Teng Tien-yu (
Voters are not permitted to take mobile phones or cameras into polling stations. Offenders are subject to imprisonment of up to one year, community service or a fine of up to NT$30,000, he said.
Teng urged voters to mark their choices in the designated space on the ballots, though a vote will also be counted as valid if it is marked on the number, photo or name of a candidate.
Those who tear up their ballots can be fined up to NT$50,000, and those who take their ballots out of the polling stations are subject to jail terms of up to one year, community service or a fine of up to NT$15,000, Teng added.
CEC Chairman Chang Cheng-hsiung (張政雄) said yesterday that voter turnout for today's legislative elections is expected to be 67 percent and the vote count is expected to be completed by 9pm.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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