The Central Election Commission (CEC) announced on Thursday that the publication, commentary, reporting, dissemination, or quoting of any results from opinion polls will be banned, starting on January 3rd, 10 days before the election.

Individuals who violate this law will be subject to fines ranging from NTD$100,000 to NTD$1 million, as stated by the CEC. In the case of a violation by a political party, a candidate running for office, or any related employee or representative, the maximum fine could be doubled to NTD$200,000 to NTD$2 million.

The CEC clarified that these rules are not new, as some false information online has suggested, since they have been in place for previous elections. However, for the upcoming January election, they will be fully enforced starting on the morning of January 3rd, before 12 pm on that day.

According to Article 52 of the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act and Article 53 of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act, political parties and individuals must provide relevant information about candidates or election public opinion surveys from the date of the election announcement until ten days before the voting day.

This information should include details about the responsible surveying organization, the supervisor, the survey period, sampling method, population size, sample size, margin of error, and funding source.

The CEC also announced earlier on Tuesday that it estimates approximately 19.5 million people will vote in the upcoming election, with over 1 million first-time voters. The CEC will set up more than 17 thousand polling stations in Taiwan.

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TNL Editor: Kim Chan (@thenewslensintl)

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