With Taiwan’s local vote a month away, the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) announced a nationwide monitoring plan as its chairwoman urged supporters to turn out ahead of the Nov. 28 election.
The Central Election Commission (CEC) has scheduled voting for Nov. 28 and projects roughly 19.65 million eligible voters. The vote will fill 11,051 local posts across nine election categories, spanning 8,906 districts and 18,244 polling stations.
Cheng Li-wun urged KMT supporters who live away from their registered addresses to travel home to vote, saying turnout would be critical. She said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters were more consistent voters than KMT supporters.
The KMT statement said the monitoring plan would get help from the Huang Fu-hsing faction and include training. Cheng accused the DPP of mobilizing state resources and called the contest unfair. “This is an asymmetric war; this is an unfair election,” she said in an English translation of the statement.
President Lai Ching-te on Wednesday urged vigilance against Chinese cognitive warfare and, separately, possible interference by organized crime groups or local collaborators, according to the ruling DPP. Lai made the remarks to the party’s Central Standing Committee, the statement said.
The DPP said Lai warned that artificial intelligence and coordinated online activity could amplify falsehoods and deepen social divisions, while pressure across borders could add another channel of influence. He urged party officials and candidates not to treat victory as assured and to answer false claims with fact-checking and measured communication.
Lai also appealed to people who leave home for work or study to make the trip back to vote. The party statement presented the tactics as potential threats; it did not say they had affected voter behavior or the election result.
Taiwan’s National Security Bureau (NSB) has also warned of suspected election influence efforts involving cyber activity and online messaging.
