This year’s elections have been marked by energy and youth engagement, members of an international delegation of election observers said yesterday.
The 18 members of the International Election Observation Mission were invited by the Taiwan Nation Alliance and International Committee for a Democratic Taiwan to observe electoral activities from Tuesday until tomorrow, before issuing a report evaluating the electoral process and conduct of political parties using international standards.
The delegation’s head, former US senator Frank Murkowski, said that in meetings with party officials across the nation, delegation members reported a prevailing spirit of enthusiasm and hope, citing activity by young people as the greatest different between this election and what he observed four years ago.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
“The involvement of youth — as opposed to the traditional types that we see often in polling places — is a little different than it was four years ago,” he said, adding that the “third force” New Power Party clearly represents “new power,” because its offices were located up four flights of stairs that only young people could run up and down.
University of Miami professor of political science June Teufel Dreyer said this election had the most excitement of any she had seen in Taiwan since beginning observations in the 1980s.
“There is much more of a feeling of anticipation that this is a watershed election, that you are on the verge of something very different for Taiwan; not only a possible alternation of political parties, but a possible realignment of the political system and also much more of a mood of ‘we can change things,’” she said.
Monash University emeritus professor Bruce Jacobs said he felt this election had proved quite calm and quiet in a continuation of trend which started during the last election cycle.
While part of the reason could possibly be ascribed to the relative lack of charisma among presidential candidates, the “routinization” of elections could also be a factor, he said, adding that prosecutors this election had proven eager to crack down on vote-buying.
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
RSS