A Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) bill to shorten the pre-election media blackout period from 10 days to three could open the door to foreign interference, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chuang Jui-hsiung (莊瑞雄) said on Sunday.
KMT Legislator Weng Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲) introduced draft amendments to Article 53 of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), saying that no evidence shows pre-election polls influence voters’ decisions.
Most countries with similar restrictions limit the publication of polls to one to six days before voting, and many have moved to shorten that period, Weng said.
Photo: Taipei Times file photo
Her bill seeks to protect the public’s right to know, in line with the Constitution’s protection of freedom of speech, she said.
The bill passed its preliminary review in December last year after KMT lawmakers blocked DPP members from entering the meeting room and approved it unanimously in the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee.
The proposed three-day blackout period might appear to enhance transparency, but would weaken safeguards against the spread of fake polls and external manipulation, Chuang said.
The 10-day blackout period is designed to prevent fabricated polls from influencing election results, he said, adding that reducing it to three days would leave insufficient time to fact-check and counter misinformation.
Given China’s long history of using disinformation and fake polls to manipulate public opinion in Taiwan, the potential risks should be carefully considered, he said.
While the public’s right to know is important, national security and electoral integrity must also be ensured, he added.
If the blackout period is shortened, fact-checking mechanisms, penalties and media self-regulation must also be enhanced; otherwise, more false polls could circulate, Chuang said, urging the governing and opposition parties to evaluate the proposal cautiously.
Citizen Congress Watch executive director Chang Hung-lin (張宏林) on Sunday said that shortening the blackout period could create social disruption ahead of elections.
China has interfered in Taiwan’s elections, and even the KMT has acknowledged the problem, he said, citing former Broadcasting Corp of China chairman Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康), who condemned China for allegedly employing online operatives to manipulate the KMT’s chairperson election.
Taiwan currently lacks legal provisions to penalize people who fabricate election polls, Chang said.
The legislature should focus on amending regulations to penalize the dissemination of fake polls rather than shortening the blackout period, which could further polarize society during elections, he said.
The influence of external disinformation and fake social media accounts on Taiwan’s elections should also be addressed, he added.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
RSS