The Central Election Commission (CEC) yesterday officially published the date of next year’s presidential election, marking the official start to the campaign season.
According to the CEC, there will be more than 1.29 million new voters eligible to vote in this presidential election cycle.
“Starting tomorrow [today], we will be in the period where legal restrictions apply, but official campaign events will not be allowed until Dec. 19,” CEC Chairman Liu Yi-chou (劉義周) said after posting the commission’s official notice for the Jan. 16 election.
The CEC said that officials charged with overseeing the election are now forbidden from expressing support for individual candidates, while the media are required to state the number and source of samples for any polls they cite, along with the agency that conducted the poll.
The commission is to begin accepting applications today from independent candidates, who can then begin petitions to gather the signatures necessary — roughly 270,000 — for them to be allowed to officially register.
The CEC is to begin accepting official registration applications on Nov. 23, with major political parties allowed to directly “recommend” candidates without a signature drive.
Presidential candidates are to be required to present a NT$15 million (US$457,848) deposit when registering, and campaign spending by any individual candidate is to be limited to NT$428.46 million.
In addition to casting ballots for a presidential candidate, voters are also to cast votes for the Legislative Yuan’s district candidates and political parties, which are to be used to allocate legislator-at-large seats.
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