Premier Yu Shyi-kun yesterday issued a stern warning to opposition politicians and local governments to neither defy the Cabinet's referendum plan nor to mobilize voters to boycott the referendum.
"Those who try to violate the central government's policy should understand what results they might have to face, especially the legal repercussions," Yu said in an interpellation session in the Legislative Yuan.
"The decision to have the presidential and referendum ballot boxes in one station was made out of consideration to voters' convenience, and to save money," Yu told lawmakers.
"If we separate polling stations, it would cost the government NT$83 million," he said.
Yu said that in other countries presidential and referendum ballot boxes are usually grouped. He said people should not oppose the issue out of self-interest.
The premier also asked the pan-blue camp not to instigate public opposition to the referendum.
"Those who are preparing to gather in front of the polling stations to discourage voters from taking part in the referendum will be punished," Yu said.
The Central Election Commission (CEC) has agreed to implement the Cabinet's policy that the voting for the referendum and presidential election should be held in the same polling station, but two local governments have decided to adopt different mechanisms to that proposed by the central government.
Maioli County yesterday announced plans to prepare two voting stations, one for the presidential election and the other for the referendum.
"The referendum and the presidential election are two different events, which are regulated by different laws. We must be careful not to make any mistakes, which could cause conflicts and lead to a riot," said Ku Chen-ching (
Ku said that security personnel who have been assigned to handle the March 20 voting are opposed to the Cabinet's plan because they are worried about being attacked if the counting of ballots were to be delayed.
"We must seriously recognize the risk of ballots being misplaced and miscounted. The Cabinet never asked our opinion and did not respect our suggestion," Ku said.
Meanwhile, Yunlin County's Election Commission yesterday denied allegations that it had decided to follow Miaoli County's example, saying that the commission would consult with grassroots leaders before making its final decision.
Commenting on Miaoli Coun-ty's plans to separate the polling stations, CEC Chairman Huang Shih-cheng (
However, Speaker of the Legislative Yuan Wang Jing-pyng (王金平) said that the majority of voters, as well as the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-People First Party (PFP) alliance, support the idea of separating the polling stations.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) urged Miaoli County not to boycott the referendum, saying that separating the polling stations was more likely to cause social and political chaos.
"The pan-blue camp should not encourage local governments to oppose to the central government in order to harvest ill-gotten political gains from the elections," DPP legislative caucus leader Tsai Huang-liang (
Tsai said the real reason for the opposition alliance's proposed separation of polling stations was that they are worried that the referendum would benefit the DPP.
"The KMT-PFP alliance is trying to reduce the significance of the referendum and sever the relationship between the referendum and the presidential election," Tsai said.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS