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Presidential election 2008: Referendum: Torn ballots, some arrests reported as the nation votes

Although most polling stations around the country reported an orderly voting day yesterday, there were some incidents and altercations.

In all, 65 violations were reported, with 49 cases of referendum or presidential ballots being torn up and 16 instances where presidential or referendum ballots were carried out of polling stations, the National Police Agency (NPA) said.

Although voters were free to refuse to pick up ballots if they did not wish to vote, defacing ballots or removing them from polling stations are both illegal.

While defacing a presidential ballot may result in a fine of up to NT$50,000 (US$1,500), defacing a referendum ballots may lead to maximum of one year in jail or fines for up to NT$15,000, the agency said.

Among voters who broke the law were former head of the Ministry of the Interior's Construction and Planning Administration Pan Li-men (潘禮門), who tore up his presidential ballot at a polling station in Taipei, as he found he had accidentally selected the wrong candidate.

The 70-year-old Pan was charged with violations of the President and Vice President Election and Recall Law (總統副總統選舉罷免法) and would be fined, police said.

Meanwhile, Penghu prosecutors arrested Magong Mayor Hsu Lee-ying (楊麗音) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and 73 Penghu residents yesterday on suspicion of involvement in vote-buying.

Hsu was suspected of hiring a boat to transport 73 individuals living in Magong back to their hometown in the county's islets to vote, police said.

The 73 were arrested as they arrived on the islets, while Hsu was arrested in Magong.

Prosecutors said they were in the process of determining if Hsu provided the free trip and asked them to vote for a certain candidate in return.

NPA Director-General Hou You-yi (侯友宜) told a press conference yesterday that more than 60,000 police officers and 30,000 volunteers had been deployed to the nation's 14,401 polling stations.

Amid calm at polling stations, police augmented security at DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) headquarters in the afternoon.
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