Cash prizes are to be awarded this year to Taipei borough wardens who get their constituents to polling stations in an effort to increase voter turnout in the Nov. 29 elections, the Taipei City Government’s Department of Civil Affairs Commissioner Huang Lu Ching-ju (黃呂錦茹) said yesterday.
She made her remarks at a press conference alongside people representing immigrants and young voters, urging city residents of all backgrounds to vote. The department is responsible for the city’s election budget.
While Taipei’s voter turnout has historically been higher than that of most other cities and counties, apathy toward the mayoral candidates could hinder the department reaching its voter turnout goal of 71 percent, Huang said.
The previous mayoral election in 2009 had a 70.65 percent voter turnout, according to department statistics.
Huang said that next month, the department would provide cash rewards to borough wardens, borough administrative secretaries and district offices for increasing voter turnout in their respective boroughs or districts.
Borough chiefs and administrative secretaries would be given a supermarket gift card for NT$1,000 for each percentage point that voter turnout in their boroughs exceeds 71 percent, she said, adding that district offices which reach this goal would be given NT$10,000 to be divided among their workers.
She said that this would be the first time that such a financial reward for increasing voter turnout has been provided during a mayoral election.
National Taiwan University politics professor Wang Ye-li (王業立) yesterday said that while it was impossible to predict how effective the new measures would be at increasing the voting rate, any increase would likely benefit the campaign of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lien (連勝文).
Although voter affiliation in Taipei is strongly tilted toward the pan-blue camp, the KMT’s supporters have been apathetic about Lien’s candidacy, he said.
Democratic Progressive Party City Councilor Chien Yu-yen (簡余晏), the spokeswoman for independent Taipei mayoral candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), yesterday said “the majority of borough wardens belong to the KMT.”
“We call on the Taipei City Government to maintain neutrality and avoid excess executive intervention in the election,” she said, adding that the voting rate in normal democratic countries is about 50 percent, unless there is extreme political polarization.
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
RSS