More than 19 million people, of which 760,000 will vote for the first time, are called to participate in Taiwan’s local elections this Saturday, in which the lowering of the minimum voting age from 20 to 18 is also subject to a referendum.
The polls have opened at 8.00 a.m. (local time) on an election day in which up to 11,000 seats are elected in all the country’s city councils, as reported by the Taiwanese agency CNA.
According to the Central Election Commission (CEC), more than 17,649 polling stations are open across the country, staffed by some 300,000 election staff.
However, some people will face significant obstacles in getting to the polls, especially after the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced fines of up to 62,000 euros for those infected with COVID-19 who break the mandatory quarantine to vote in person at a polling station.
According to the agency, Taiwan currently does not allow postal voting or similar, which means that people with coronavirus are strictly prohibited from voting. The CECC has estimated that some 65,000 people will not be able to vote.
At stake in Saturday’s election are the mayoralties of Taiwan’s six largest cities – Taipei, New Taipei, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung – as well as mayors and magistrates in 15 other cities and counties across the country.
In Taiwan’s capital, Taipei, Democratic Progressive Party candidate Chen Shih Chung, who previously headed the Ministry of Health and Welfare during the COVID-19 pandemic, faces Chiang Wang An of the Chinese Nationalist Party. In addition, Ko Wen Je of the People’s Party and Huang Shan Shan, an independent candidate, will also contest the mayoralty of the capital, CNA reported.
A referendum on lowering the legal age for voting and running for public office to 18 is being held in conjunction with the municipal elections.
If the referendum passes, it will require an amendment to Taiwan’s Constitution to lower the voting age to 18, a process that will be carried out for the first time as a result of a referendum.
The threshold for passage of the referendum is a ‘Yes’ vote of at least 50 percent of the 19.24 million voters called to participate in the vote.
