To ensure that today’s presidential and legislative elections proceed in an orderly fashion, people may not canvass for votes for any political party or candidate, including on social media, the Central Election Commission (CEC) reiterated yesterday, adding that offenders would face a fine.
Article 56-2 of the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) prohibits people on election day from canvassing for votes, distributing election-related flyers, sending text messages, putting up posters, raising flags that bear candidates’ slogans or portraits, broadcasting from campaign vehicles or loitering near polling stations in clothing bearing candidates’ names, the commission said.
Offenders would be reported by polling station supervisors to the commission’s board of supervisors and would face a fine of NT$500,000 to NT$5 million (US$16,656 to US$166,561), with repeat fines possible if offenders refuse to comply, the commission said.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
If people hand out water or other beverages to voters on behalf of a candidate or party, they would be stopped by polling supervisors, the commission added.
If people interfere with the voting by becoming violent or attempting to coerce others, polling supervisors would inform the commission to contact the police or a prosecutors’ office, it said.
On election day in 2012, the “Taiwan Cheers, Great!” Facebook page, set up by then-president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) re-election campaign office, posted a message urging people to vote for Ma, resulting in a NT$500,000 fine from the commission.
Today at the polls, voters are to receive three ballots — a presidential ballot, a regional or Aboriginal legislator ballot and a ballot for a political party, which would determine the legislator-at-large seats.
According to the commission, more than 19.31 million people are eligible to vote today.
A two-month difference in voting residency requirements allows 19,311,105 people to cast their ballots for president, while 1,000 more can do so for the legislator-at-large seats, the commission said.
The election laws stipulate that Republic of China citizens must at some point have resided in Taiwan for a minimum of six consecutive months to be eligible to vote for president, or four months to vote for other civil servants.
Of the nation’s eligible voters, 13.37 million (69 percent) are registered in the six special municipalities: Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, the commission said.
People aged 40 to 49 make up the largest voting bloc with 3.74 million eligible voters (19 percent), followed by those aged 50 to 59 with 3.63 million, it said.
About 1.18 million 20 to 23-year-olds (6 percent) are eligible to vote in the presidential and legislative elections for the first time, it added.
After the polling stations close at 4pm today, votes for president are to be tallied first, followed by regional/Aboriginal legislator votes, with political party ballots counted last, the commission said.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to