Just for the records, if you have the possibility to use HTML::Template::Compiled and the plugin HTML_Tags:
Template:

    <tmpl_html_option province>
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Perl:

    $htc->param(
        province => [ 'opt_2', # selected
            ['opt_1', 'option 1'],
            ['opt_2', 'option 2'],
        ],
    );
[download]

Output:

    <option value="opt_1">option 1</option>
    <option value="opt_2" selected="selected">option 2</option>
[download]