Independent Taipei mayoral candidate Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) campaign executive director Yao Li-min (姚立明) yesterday responded to statements from district offices saying that Ko’s volunteer ballot observers may not be able to cast their own votes while serving as ballot observers, urging the offices to remain neutral.
“Suffrage is a fundamental right protected by the Constitution, and since 1950, ballot observers have been allowed to take a temporary leave from the poll station where they work to cast their votes near their home addresses,” Yao said. “Therefore, the ballot observers’ right to vote would not be affected by their service.”
Yao made the remarks as several of Ko’s 1,500 volunteer ballot observers said they received notices from district offices saying that, since they would have to monitor poll stations other than their designated polling station, they would not be able to vote on election day.
Yao added that, according to Article 17 of the Election and Recall Act for Public Servants (公職人員選舉罷免法), all ballot observers with household registration in Taipei can vote in the poll station where they work.
“All the ballot observers recommended by Ko’s campaign are voters registered in Taipei and are all employees of the Taipei City Election Commission: They should not be treated differently,” Yao said, urging that the district offices should only provide the most accurate information to the ballot observers.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
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The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
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