The Central Election Commission yesterday said that its decision to bar people with COVID-19 and their close contacts from going to the polls on Nov. 26 if they are in quarantine does not contravene any constitutional principles.
The regulations pertaining to the protection of human health against the spread of transmissible diseases are laid out in Constitutional Interpretation No. 690, which was handed down by the Council of Grand Justices in 2011, the commission said in a statement.
People who test positive for COVID-19 are required to quarantine for seven days, while their close contacts must isolate for three days if they have not received three shots of a COVID-19 vaccine, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said.
Photo: CNA
The quarantine period for COVID-19 patients can be shortened if they obtain two negative rapid test results five days after infection was confirmed or between the fifth and seventh day of the isolation period, the CECC said.
If the CECC revises its quarantine policy, the decision to disallow people with COVID-19 and their close contacts from voting on Nov. 26 would be adjusted accordingly, the election commission said.
The commission issued the statement after New Power Party and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers called for the decision to be re-examined, saying it would deprive about 300,000 people of their constitutional right to vote.
Taiwan has recorded an average of 33,813 COVID-19 cases per day over the past seven days, CECC data showed.
Taiwanese are to go to the polls to elect 11,023 public officials at all levels of local government and to vote on a referendum that asks whether the voting age should be lowered to 18 from 20.
In Taiwan, there are no laws that allow early or absentee voting.
Later yesterday, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the CECC, said the government was considering relaxing the quarantine rules for people with COVID-19 and their close contacts for the elections.
In other developments, the CECC yesterday reported 37,265 new COVID-19 infections, including 69 imported cases, and 78 deaths.
While yesterday’s domestic infections represented a 23 percent drop from a week earlier, people should continue to observe disease prevention rules, the center said.
The relatively high daily number of fatalities right now reflects the recent surge in the number of COVID-19 cases, and that trend might continue for a while, the CECC added.
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