The National Security Bureau (NSB) yesterday said it would immediately commence operations to protect the three pairings of presidential and vice presidential candidates after they register their candidacies later this week.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and his running mate, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), announced last week that they would register this morning.
Their main contenders, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and her running mate, Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全), said they would register on Wednesday.
People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) and his running mate, Lin Ruey-shiung (林瑞雄), said they would do so on Wednesday or Friday.
The Central Election Commission announced on Wednesday last week that Soong’s campaign had accumulated enough signatures to enter the presidential election, which is to be held concurrently with the legislative elections on Jan. 14.
The bureau said it had provided security reports to the three pairings of presidential and vice presidential candidates and was in the process of contacting each team about the date and time they plan to register.
The bureau’s special protective task force is scheduled to ensure the candidates’ personal safety from the moment they complete the registration process until midnight on election day,
The bureau said that in addition to all campaign occasions, the task force teams are scheduled to be deployed at the candidates’ residences and provide 24-hour protection, with assistance from local police stations responsible for those locations.
A 135-member security task force, augmented by 30 specially trained police officers, will be divided into three teams to provide protection, the bureau said.
For the sake of transparency and fairness, an open drawing of lots by NSB Director Tsai Der-sheng (蔡得勝) was used to determine which task force members would be assigned to which pair of candidates.
Hsu Yen-ching (許燕情), deputy security officer for Ma, will lead the team charged with Ma’s security. Wu Tung-lin (吳東林) will head the team in charge of Tsai and Su, while Lin Wen-hao (林文豪) will lead the team handling Soong and Lin.
All three team leaders hold the rank of major-general.
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