With only six days to go until the National Assembly election, the Central Election Commission (CEC) has been pulling out all the stops to boost voter turnout, as voter interest has generally been lukewarm.
Chang Cheng-hsiung (張政雄), chairman of the CEC, said that the commission has allotted more funds than ever before to boost voter enthusiasm for the May 14 poll, including holding a lucky draw for those who go to the polls. The CEC has aired TV commercials on all the major networks and has put up election-related posters.
According to Chang, the CEC has invited popular TV actor Chen Chao-jung (陳昭榮) to be the spokesman for the election in a public service ad, urging voters to "go to the polls no matter how busy you are."
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
As for the lucky draw, a top prize of NT$1 million (US$31,556) will be awarded, while notebook computers will be given to three second-prize winners. Other prizes up for grabs include five digital cameras, eight mobile phones, 10 translation machines and 15 MP3 players.
Voters who go to the polls can fill out a form accompanying the ballot and hand it in to election workers in order to be entered into the draw.
Chang noted that the election is crucial in terms of Taiwan's democratic development and that its importance is no less than that of a presidential election.
The CEC is aiming for a voter turnout rate of at least 40 percent, significantly higher than earlier forecasts of between 20 percent and 30 percent, he said.
Meanwhile, Government Information Office Director-General Pasuya Yao (姚文智) said that the upcoming election is crucial in terms of "deepening Taiwan's democracy."
The May 14 election will be different from previous elections, where voters will cast their ballots for a political party or civic group instead of for an individual candidate, so voters might not be very familiar with the election formula, Yao said, calling on the media to give more coverage to the poll.
The mission of the National Assembly will be to screen a constitutional amendment package adopted by the Legislative Yuan last August. Items in the package include reducing the number of legislative seats from the present 225 to 113, adopting a "single seat, two votes" legislative electoral system.
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