The Central Election Commission (CEC) over the next few months is to consult with local election commissions on whether to hold the 2020 presidential and legislative elections on the same day, with a decision on the matter to be reached in June, CEC Acting Chairman Chen Chao-chien (陳朝建) said yesterday.
The elections could be held on the same day, in January 2020, or separately, with the legislative elections in November next year and the presidential election in March 2020, Chen told the Legislative Yuan’s Internal Administration Committee in response to questions from People First Party Legislator Chen Yi-chieh (陳怡潔).
The commission has no set opinion on whether to hold the elections separately or together, Chen Chao-chien said, adding that political factors would not be taken into consideration when deciding on the dates.
When asked about the benefits and downsides of each option, Chen Chao-chien said that a major advantage of holding the presidential and legislative elections on the same day is that the CEC has experience conducting the polls simultaneously from the presidential and legislative elections in 2012 and 2016.
On the other hand, holding them separately would be a return to historical election practices, he said.
The CEC is to consult local election commissions on the matter next month and in February and would make a decision after discussions at CEC meetings, Chen Chao-chien said, adding that the agency would handle election affairs according to its schedule.
While presidential and legislative elections were held on the same day in 2012 and 2016, they were held separately in 2004 and 2008, the CEC said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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