The Central Election Commission (CEC) last night successfully convinced a pan-blue-governed county to adopt its one-step voting procedure for next month's legislative election and two referendums.
After a dinner gathering with chiefs of several local electoral commissions, CEC Secretary-General Teng Tien-yu (鄧天佑) told reporters that the Taitung County Election Commission had decided not to act on a joint decision made by 18 pan-blue-governed cities and counties to boycott the CEC's one-step voting procedure.
Taitung commission chief Chuang Chung-wen (莊炯文), however, was the only commission chief from the 18 cities and counties to attend the dinner, Teng said.
Teng said the CEC had reached a set of agreements with the six commission chiefs present during the meeting.
It was agreed to install two large signs outside each voting station to remind people they had the right not to collect the referendum ballots, Teng said.
Two other signs would be displayed inside voting stations to designate the places voters should collect the different ballots so as to facilitate the voting procedure, he said.
The commission chiefs agreed there should be at least a 50cm distance between the table distributing the legislative ballots and the one handing out the referendum ballots, he said.
Ballots cast in the wrong box would still be considered valid, he said.
Teng said the CEC would continue to negotiate with the other 17 cities and counties that were absent from yesterday's meeting to understand their concerns about the one-step voting procedure.
A variety of reasons were given for the pan-blue no-shows. The Taichung City and Hsinchu County commissions said they were unable to send anyone because they were in the middle of electing a new chairman.
The Taipei City group flat out rejected the gesture and Taipei County's representative declined, citing health reasons.
Both Hualien and Taoyuan County's local election commission chairmen could not be reached. Their offices said the chairmen had meetings all day and would not show up for the dinner.
Tainan County's chief had originally said yes but pulled out at the last minute, saying that he had to attend a Ministry of Economic Affairs meeting.
Kinmen County said it was not necessary for it to send a delegate.
Central Election Commission Secretary-General Teng Tien-yu (鄧天祐) said the sole purpose of inviting the 18 pan-blue voting district heads to dinner was to give them the chance to voice their concerns over the "one-step voting" system.
However, he reiterated that the CEC would not compromise over the issue, despite speculated by the Chinese-language United Daily News.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) have been at each other's throats over the "one-step" versus "two-step" voting system for next month's election since the CEC announced on Nov. 16 that it would adopt the "one-step" system proposed by the DPP.
Under a "one-step" system, voters will be handed two legislative ballots and two referendum ballots upon entering polling stations.
The pan-blue camp wants the legislative ballots to be handed out separately from the referendum ballots.
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
Taiwan is planning to expand the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-based X-ray imaging to customs clearance points over the next four years to curb the smuggling of contraband, a Customs Administration official said. The official on condition of anonymity said the plan would cover meat products, e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, large bundles of banknotes and certain agricultural produce. Taiwan began using AI image recognition systems in July 2021. This year, generative AI — a subset of AI which uses generative models to produce data — would be used to train AI models to produce realistic X-ray images of contraband, the official
RSS