The campaign for the Jan. 13 presidential and legislative elections officially starts today and is to last 28 days until Jan. 12, the Central Election Commission (CEC) said yesterday.
The hours that candidates are allowed to hold their campaign activities are from 7am to 10pm, CEC Chairman Lee Chin-yung (李進勇) told a news conference.
The order in which candidates are to be listed on the presidential ballot was also officially announced by Lee at the event, after a lottery was conducted earlier this week.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Taiwan People’s Party Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and his running mate, Cynthia Wu (吳欣盈), secured the top position on the ballot, while Vice President William Lai (賴清德), the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential candidate, and former representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) drew the second position, and New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, and his running mate, Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康), placed third.
About 19.5 million eligible voters, including about 1.03 million first-time voters, will be able to cast ballots at 17,794 polling stations around the country that are to be open from 8am to 4pm, the commission said.
Taiwan does not allow absentee ballots or early voting.
The exact number of eligible voters is to be announced on Jan. 9, CEC Vice Chairman Chen Chao-chien (陳朝建) said.
Lee urged the media to adhere to the principles of impartiality and fairness when reporting on election-related issues.
Regarding public opinion polls, Lee said such activities need to list key details, including the name of the organization conducting the survey, the time, method, numbers, margin of error and source of funding.
Starting from Jan. 3, citing, publishing, disseminating, reporting or commenting publicly on any opinion polls pertaining to the elections or the candidates would not be permitted, Lee said.
The prohibition applies to political parties, the news media, polling companies and individuals, the CEC said.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
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