The Central Election Commission (CEC) yesterday announced campaigning prohibitions starting from midnight tonight in the lead-up to tomorrow’s recall referendums.
The announcement came at a news conference to remind the public of voting laws as polls are to open across Taiwan to decide the fate of 24 lawmakers from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), as well as suspended Hsinchu mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) of the Taiwan People's Party.
Voters should remember to bring their national ID card, personal seal and voting notice to their designated polling station, Central Election Committee Deputy Chairman Chen Chao-chien (陳朝建) said.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
The five major restrictions are: a ban on campaigning, including on social media; noise or disturbances around polling stations; bringing recording equipment into the polling booth; tearing up ballots and taking the ballot out of the polling station.
For anybody who campaigns after midnight tonight, the penalty is between NT$100,000 to NT$1 million (US$3,397 to US$33,977), doubled for those working on behalf of candidates or campaigns, Chen said.
Those who disturb the area around a polling booth or seek to persuade people to vote a certain way can be sentenced to up to a year in prison or receive a fine of up to NT$15,000, Chen added.
Those who record the inside of the polling booth can face fines of between NT$30,000 to NT$300,000, he added.
The penalty for tearing or destroying ballots is between NT$5,000 and NT$50,000, while carrying them out of the voting location would result in a fine of up to NT$15,000 or one year in prison, Chen said.
Neither the pro-recall side or the anti-recall side are allowed to encourage the public to vote actively, Chen said, adding that any reports would be investigated.
Responding to online rumors about voters bringing their own ink pads and selection tools, the CEC said those rumors were false and that not only would their use invalidate the ballot, but refusal to follow instructions could see violators punished for contravening the Public officials Election And Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法).
Regarding online rumors that some polling locations were moved to remote areas, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) today said that the CEC has asked local election committees to provide explanations as to why the changes were made.
There should be no further changes, he added.
The location of polling stations is managed by local entities, Chen said.
Some change is normal between elections, but the CEC has taken measures to promote new locations such as radio and social media advertisements, and assigning personnel to redirect voters from old voting sites to the new ones, he added.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS