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CEC to decide fate of simultaneous elections tomorrow

The Central Election Commission (CEC) should reach a decision tomorrow on whether it will hold the legislative and presidential elections -- both slated for early next year -- simultaneously, commission Deputy Secretary-General Teng Tien-you (鄧天祐) said on Tuesday.

The commission has wrapped up secretarial consultations and will present its analysis to the commissioners during a meeting tomorrow, Teng said, adding that commissioners were expected to make a decision during the meeting.

The commission has requested the opinions of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the People First Party, the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) and the Non-Partisan Solidarity Union, he said, adding that parties that failed to reply before tomorrow's meeting would be understood to "have no comment."

The date of the legislative election has been set for Jan. 12, while presidential elections have previously been held in March.

Meanwhile, the TSU, a key ally of the DPP, reiterated its objections to the plan of holding simultaneous elections, citing concerns over political stability and the promotion of state affairs.

In response to a commission inquiry about the proposal, TSU Secretary-General Chien Chen-shan (錢橙山) said in a press release that his party was firmly against the idea of combining the two elections and that the commission should not accept the proposal simply because of convenience or tight budgets.

As both the DPP and the KMT have been drumming up public support for their proposed referendums to be held during the presidential election, Chien said holding three votes simultaneously would be too complex.

The legislative elections have to be held no later than Jan. 19.

If the presidential election were held on the same day, it would mean a transition period of four months before the May 20 presidential inauguration -- a long period during which political problems could arise, Chien said.
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