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Taipei City turns to MRT to promote Saturday vote

The Taipei City Government yesterday strengthened its efforts to promote Saturday's legislative elections by holding an ad campaign in front of an MRT station while defending its decision not to promote referendums as a means to maintain its neutrality.

Lining up in front of the Taipei City Hall MRT station early yesterday, Taipei City Civil Affairs Department Commissioner Huang Lu Ching-ju (黃呂錦茹) and 12 municipal district office heads held placards and distributed bookmarks reading: "Jan. 12 Legislative Elections, please come out and vote."

After receiving the bookmark, a middle-age woman, who did not give her name, challenged the department over its failure to promote the referendums.

"There are also referendum ballots on that day. You should also inform people about the referendums," she said.

Under the one-step voting procedure adopted by the Central Election Commission, voters will receive two ballots for the legislative elections and two referendum ballots upon entering the polling station before casting them into four different boxes.

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has launched a campaign to boycott the referendums and has urged voters to refrain from participating in the referendums.

Shrugging off the challenge, Huang Lu said that the key mission of the department was the legislative elections and that electoral announcements had already promoted the referendums.

"We did not ignore the promotion of referendums intentionally. The reason we came out and promoted the legislative elections is to remind voters of their right to vote," she said.

Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) later joined Huang Lu and said that in order to maintain its neutral stance, the city government would not encourage voters to cast referendum ballots.

"We leave it to voters to decide whether to cast referendum ballots. It is the city government' duty not to promote the referendums intentionally and to respect people's decisions," Hau said yesterday during the municipal meeting at Taipei City Hall.

The Referendum Law (公投法) states that a referendum can only proceed if voter turnout reaches the 50 percent threshold.

As casting the referendum ballots would be a gesture of support for the referendums, Hau said the city government would not pressure voters one way or another.

"We are maintaining our neutrality by neither promoting referendum voting nor asking voters not to cast their ballots," he said.
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