The Taipei City Government yesterday strengthened its efforts to promote Saturday's legislative elections by holding an ad campaign in front of an MRT station while defending its decision not to promote referendums as a means to maintain its neutrality.
Lining up in front of the Taipei City Hall MRT station early yesterday, Taipei City Civil Affairs Department Commissioner Huang Lu Ching-ju (黃呂錦茹) and 12 municipal district office heads held placards and distributed bookmarks reading: "Jan. 12 Legislative Elections, please come out and vote."
After receiving the bookmark, a middle-age woman, who did not give her name, challenged the department over its failure to promote the referendums.
"There are also referendum ballots on that day. You should also inform people about the referendums," she said.
Under the one-step voting procedure adopted by the Central Election Commission, voters will receive two ballots for the legislative elections and two referendum ballots upon entering the polling station before casting them into four different boxes.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has launched a campaign to boycott the referendums and has urged voters to refrain from participating in the referendums.
Shrugging off the challenge, Huang Lu said that the key mission of the department was the legislative elections and that electoral announcements had already promoted the referendums.
"We did not ignore the promotion of referendums intentionally. The reason we came out and promoted the legislative elections is to remind voters of their right to vote," she said.
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (
"We leave it to voters to decide whether to cast referendum ballots. It is the city government' duty not to promote the referendums intentionally and to respect people's decisions," Hau said yesterday during the municipal meeting at Taipei City Hall.
The Referendum Law (
As casting the referendum ballots would be a gesture of support for the referendums, Hau said the city government would not pressure voters one way or another.
"We are maintaining our neutrality by neither promoting referendum voting nor asking voters not to cast their ballots," he said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS