The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative caucus said yesterday it is worried about a possible low voter turnout in the March 20 referendum .
The caucus made the remarks after a recent public opinion poll found that only 33 percent of the respondents said they would definitely cast ballots in the referendum.
The telephone survey, conducted by SANLIH Entertainment Television (三立電視) on March 1 and March 2, was aimed at exploring the support ratings of the presidential candidates and public opinion about the referendum. A total of 1,058 valid samples were collected in the survey, with a margin of error of 3.07 percent.
According to the survey, the respondents were divided about the referendum, with 33.1 percent saying they will certainly go and vote; 11.4 percent saying they will probably cast ballots in the referendum; 31.21 percent saying they will definitely not cast referendum ballots; and 11.5 percent saying they will probably not cast ballots.
DPP legislative whip Tsai Huang-lang (蔡煌瑯) said the findings indicated that voters were not keenly interested in the referendum.
Tsai said what the international community is concerned about is the referendum results.
"If less than 50 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in the upcoming referendum, it will send the wrong message -- that the people of Taiwan are not united in the face of China's missile threat," he said.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
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