Taipei residents who tested positive for COVID-19 should be enabled to vote, three Taipei mayoral candidates said at separate events yesterday as they weighed in on a debate over rules that bar those who have the virus from voting in the local elections next month.
People who are ordered to isolate at home after testing positive for the virus and their close contacts would not be allowed to cast their ballots, the Central Election Commission said in August as it released the rules for the elections on Nov. 26.
The rules sparked a nationwide debate, with lawmakers on Thursday discussing whether the rules infringe on people’s right to vote, as guaranteed in the Constitution.
Photo: CNA
However, commission Chairman Lee Chin-yung (李進勇) told lawmakers that a wave of COVID-19 infections coinciding with the elections poses difficulties that cannot be overcome.
He said some people have suggested arranging separate voting stations and delayed voting for those under isolation orders.
However, this would not be feasible, as people can only vote where they are registered, which might be far from where they are isolating, he said.
Photo: CNA
Setting up extra voting stations would pose many challenges, Lee added.
The commission on Friday issued a statement saying isolation orders are based on the Communicable Disease Control Act (傳染病防治法), as well as Constitutional Interpretation No. 690, which determined that the orders do not contravene the Constitution.
However, the debate was not over for the three Taipei mayoral candidates.
Photo: CNA
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator and Taipei mayoral candidate Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) yesterday said people should not be arbitrarily deprived of their constitutionally guaranteed right to vote.
The government has since August eased COVID-19 policies and the election commission should follow suit, he said.
Hopefully, the Executive Yuan and the commission can implement supplementary measures that enable people under isolation orders to vote, Chiang added.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei mayoral candidate Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who headed the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) until he announced his candidacy, yesterday said the election rules take voting rights and disease prevention needs into account.
The COVID-19 situation might have changed by Nov. 26, he added.
However, Chen said he is confident that the CECC and the election commission would come up with a solution that enables every registered voter to cast their ballot.
Independent candidate Vivian Huang (黃珊珊), a former Taipei deputy mayor, yesterday said the voting rules were outdated, especially as Taiwan’s borders have been opened to tourist groups since they were announced.
Everybody should get the chance to vote, she said, urging the government to find a solution.
A solution “should have been found long ago,” she added.
Otherwise, people might test positive in an quick test without reporting it to the authorities so they can cast their ballot despite having COVID-19, which would pose a greater threat, Huang said.
The government should implement rules that enable everyone to vote, instead of rules that incentivize breaches, she added.
‘OBNOXIOUS MAN’: The KMT’s Chen Ching-hui moved into Chung Chia-pin’s path atop the podium and reached for him before he grabbed at her legs with both hands Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) yesterday said he slipped and lost his balance, and did not know who was around him, after jumping onto the speaker’s podium at the legislature in Taipei. He apologized after a collision with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chen Ching-hui (陳菁徽), who moved to intercept him as he mounted the podium. There was pushing and shoving when the session started in the morning as KMT lawmakers attempted to block access to the podium to shield Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) so he could preside over the session. Video footage showed Chung step on a chair and
Hungarian Member of Parliament Tompos Marton said he considers Taiwan to be a better alternative to China as a strategic partner. Marton, who is the vice president of the opposition Momentum Party, made the remarks in an interview with the Central News Agency on Sunday. He draped a Republic of China flag across his shoulders to protest Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) visit to the capital city, Budapest, on Thursday last week, and openly voiced support for Taiwan on social media. He said in the interview that he wanted to remind the world that there were alternatives to China, and that “Taiwan has
A female physician at New Taipei City’s Shuang Ho Hospital was bullied and made to work for 32 consecutive hours by a senior colleague while pregnant before later having a miscarriage, an internal investigation found, the hospital said on Monday. The perpetrator has been removed from his post, the hospital said. The attending physician in the hospital’s Medical Imaging Department, identified by the pseudonym Y, earlier on Monday told reporters that she had been bullied by a male senior colleague who arranged shifts in her department. In January, shortly after she became pregnant, Y asked the department director if she could avoid overnight
While it is common to see bumper stickers informing other drivers about important information, such as “baby on board” or “rookie driver,” some motorist in Taiwan are using creative statements to warn other drivers to keep a safe distance to avoid a collision. A photograph recently circulating on the Internet showed a van in Changhua City with a bumper sticker saying that the driver received their license after taking the test three times, so it is dangerous to drive close to the vehicle. The person who took the photograph said all vehicles behind the van appeared to “subconsciously” maintaining a safe distance. Some