With the Central Election Commission (CEC) scheduled to announce its plans for next year’s presidential and legislative elections on Feb. 12, a proposal to hold the elections together appears to be gaining public favor.
A recent poll conducted by the commission found that 68.4 percent of respondents were in favor of synchronizing the two polls, while 13 percent were opposed.
Three public hearings and an online poll also provided mainly positive responses on combining elections as well, the commission said.
However, Central Election Commission Chairman Liu Yi-chou (劉義周) has been reluctant to say more until the commission holds its next meeting, saying that until it reaches a final conclusion, it should not make predictions.
The eighth legislature is scheduled to end on Jan. 31 next year, so the election for the ninth legislature has to take place before Jan. 21.
President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) term expires on May 20 next year, so the presidential election must be held by April 19.
If the two elections are combined, they would probably be scheduled for Jan. 16, which is the Saturday before the end of the legislative term.
The most recent presidential election was held on Jan. 14, 2012, in conjunction with the legislative elections.
Savings in terms of public expenditures and voters’ time are one reason the public is partial toward synchronizing the elections, as merging them is estimated to save NT$500 million (US$15.7 million) in administrative costs, the commission said.
However, former commission chairman Huang Shih-cheng (黃石城) has been outspoken in his objection to such synchronization, saying that the government and the legislature might be forced to a four-month period of inactivity should the presidential election be held in January and an opposition politician win election as he or she could not take office until May.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has already said that “it would respect the commission’s decision,” while the Democratic Progressive Party asked the commission for “a set of complimentary measures.” The Taiwan Solidarity Union and People First Party have said they favor holding two separate elections.
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