Central Election Commission
home Go back to the previous page, please use the browser (Alt + ←)Central Election Commission announces postpone national referendums to December 18, 2021, due to COVID-19
The
Central Election Commission (CEC) held a commission meeting on July 2, 2021 and
decided to postpone the national referendums to December 18, 2021, due to the
COVID-19 situation in Taiwan. The vote was originally scheduled to take place
on August 28, 2021.
The national referendums in 2021 will have more than 19.8 million voters cast their vote in 17,479 polling stations across the country, and nearly 270,000 polling station workers are recruited by local election commissions. The COVID-19 pandemic situation in Taiwan changed rapidly in May. The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) declared a nationwide Level 3 alert on May 15, all family or social gatherings involving 5 or more people indoors or 10 or more people outdoors are forbidden, campuses in elementary and middle schools, community centers and worship sites are closed to the public. Election works have also been severely affected and delayed. In order to protect the voting rights of the citizens and to maintain the nation’s prevention efforts, consider the timing of the country policy for increasing the COVID-19 vaccine coverage rate and the time requirement to adjust the election operations, the commission resolved to postpone the referendum to December 18, 2021.
The CEC further explained that electoral operations affected by the COVID-19 are as follows:
1. About 270,000 polling station workers shall attend the lectures held by the election commissions, according to the Referendum Act which is applied mutatis mutandis Article 60 of the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act. On average, more than 200 polling station workers participated in each lecture, and it violated the epidemic prevention guidelines of the CECC.
2. The polling station workers are responsible for checking the identities of voters, issuing referendum ballots, assisting voters, monitoring and directing the order of the polling station and implementing the epidemic prevention measures, etc. The close contact between the polling station workers and the voters will become puncturing holes of the spread of the virus.
3. The local governments are understaffed. They are doing their best to handle various epidemic prevention works and have no time to do the electoral affairs.
4. Around 17,479 polling stations are set up nationwide, of which 44% are primary and secondary schools’ classrooms. It is unable to set up the polling stations due to the closure of the campus.
5. Recent news and studies have shown that celebrating festivals may lead to an increase in COVID-19 cases. Given that the referendum day will be the country's biggest movement recently and will make people gather together, it is advisable to avoid the serious consequences of the outbreak of the COVID-19.
Therefore, the CEC commissioners believe that the above circumstances are in line with Article 24 of the Referendum Act, which is applied mutatis mutandis to Article 66 Paragraph 1 and 2 of the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act, when a natural disaster or Force Majeure prior to the referendum day may have totaled or predictably exceed 1/3 of the polling stations and ballot counting stations in the electoral district respectively, shall determine another day for voting and ballot counting in the electoral district. Also, refer to the Judicial Yuan's Interpretation No. 553, an incorrect outcome or clear and present danger may ensue, if and when the election is to be held on time. To protect the voting rights of the citizens and to maintain the nation’s prevention efforts, consider the timing of the country policy for increasing the COVID-19 vaccine coverage rate and the time requirement to adjust the election operations, all CEC commissioners resolved to postpone the referendum to December 18, 2021.
The
important schedule for the revised national referendum in 2021 is as follows:
(1)
July 2, 2021 Announce the postponement of the national referendums
(2)
August 8, 2021 Complete the compilation of the list of referendum voters
(3)
November 8, 2021 Announce the locations of the polling stations
(4)
November 13 to December 11, 2021 Hold presentations or debates for the national
referendums
(5)
Before December 14, 2021 Announce the voting eligible population
(6) December
18, 2021 Voting and ballot counting
(7)
Before December 24, 2021 Deliberate the results of the national referendums
(8) December 24, 2021 Publicize the results of the national referendums
