New Power Party (NPP) Kaohsiung City Councilor Huang Jie (黃捷) and other councilors yesterday reported complaints of suspected illegal activity as people in Kaohsiung headed to the polls to vote on recalling Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜).
Kaohsiung councilors and residents at the polls were on the alert for illegal activity, as media reports had said that some people claiming to “monitor” polling stations were warning people not to cast a recall ballot, which could be viewed as intimidation.
Huang said that when the polls opened at 8am, she began receiving reports of alleged election law offenses, such as people being filmed when entering the stations and other possible intimidation tactics.
Photo: Chen Wen-chan, Taipei Times
She added that she turned the complaints over to the police so that they could ensure that the voting proceeded smoothly.
“There were also election workers making misleading statements at some polling stations, falsely informing those with no voter notification that they could not vote,” Huang wrote on Facebook, adding that the instruction was incorrect — people could vote with just their national identification card.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Kaohsiung City Councilor Chiu Chun-hsien (邱俊憲) said that he received reports of alleged illegal activity at a polling station at Zhong Zhuang Elementary School in Daliao District (大寮), where a local figure known to be a fervent Han supporter was livestreaming the polling for a YouTube channel.
DPP City Councilor Kang Yu-cheng (康裕成) said that on arriving at her neighborhood school to vote, she found the borough warden at the entrance, apparently monitoring local residents coming to place their ballots, adding that the warden left soon after she discussed the matter with him.
Police said that they checked on a man at the polling station at St. Paul’s High School in Kushan District (鼓山) after complaints that he had allegedly set up his smartphone outside to record who was entering to vote.
Although the man told police that he was just taking photographs as a personal pastime, the officers said that they made him delete all of the video and images that he had taken at the school entrance that morning.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
WATCH FOR HITCHHIKERS: The CDC warned those returning home from Japan to be alert for any contagious diseases that might have come back with them People who have returned from Japan following the World Baseball Classic (WBC) games during the weekend are recommended to watch for symptoms of infectious gastroenteritis, flu and measles for two weeks, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. Flu viruses remain the most common respiratory pathogen in Taiwan in the past four weeks and the influenza B virus accounted for 55.7 percent of the tested cases, exceeding the percentage of influenza A (H3N2) infections and becoming the local dominant strain, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said at a news conference on Tuesday. There were 82,187 hospital visits for
Taiwan’s three major international carriers are increasing booking fees, with EVA Airways having already increased the charge to US$28 per flight segment from US$25, while China Airlines (CAL) and Starlux Airlines are set to follow suit. Booking fees are charged by airlines through a global distribution system (GDS) and passed on to passengers. Carriers that apply the fees include CAL, EVA, Starlux and Tigerair Taiwan. A GDS is a computerized network operated by a company that connects airlines with travel agents and ticketing platforms, allowing reservations to be made and processed in real time. Major players include Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport. EVA Air began
Alumni from Japan’s Kyoto Tachibana Senior High School marching band, widely known as the “Orange Devils,” staged a flash mob performance at the Grand Hotel in Taipei yesterday to thank Taiwan for its support after the Great East Japan Earthquake. The show, performed on the earthquake’s 15th anniversary, drew more than 100 spectators, some of whom arrived two hours before the show to secure a good viewing spot. The 26-member group played selections from “High School Musical,” “Beauty and the Beast,” and their signature piece “Sing Sing Sing” and shouted “I love
RSS