Although they did not submit any new evidence yesterday, the pan-blue alliance's attorneys said that the Central Election Commission (CEC) had failed to carry out its duties to maintain a fair and clean election, and demanded that the presidential election be rendered invalid.
The argument by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and People First Party (PFP) alliance's attorneys was not strong enough to persuade the judges, and Taiwan High Court presiding judge Cheng Ya-ping (
PHOTO: LO PEI-TEH, TAIPEI TIMES
Lee Tsung-teh (
The lawyer was apparently referring to the March 19 attempt to assassinate President Chen Shui-bian (
"The evidence we collected showed that many voters decided not to vote or voted for Chen and Lu after the shooting," said Lee. "Under these kinds of circumstances, the CEC should have suspended the election until investigators closed the case."
The evidence mentioned by Lee includes a questionnaire conducted by the National Policy Foundation (
Lee's argument was immediately rebutted by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) defense counsel Johnson Chuang (
"KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) said we shall carry on with the election when he was interviewed on TV after the shooting took place," said Chuang. "Your Honor, what I said is verifiable if you ask for the video footage from any of local TV stations. Why is it that they are complaining the election should have been suspended now? It is ironic, isn't it?"
Huang Chao-yuan (黃昭元), a National Taiwan University law professor and a CEC member said that the alliance's complaint is illogical.
"The CEC is only authorized to suspend an election when the candidate is dead. While they [the plaintiffs] are complaining that we did not `do something,' does that mean the CEC's authorization should be expanded?" said Huang. "The CEC is a government office which is supposed to stay neutral under all kinds circumstances, no?"
Article 17, Section 1 of the Referendum Law (
According to the article, the referendum shall be carried out if the president proposes it and the Cabinet approves, if the issue concerns national defense.
Other than issues of national defense, a referendum can be carried out with an endorsement of 5 percent of registered voters and an approval by the Legislature's referendum evaluation committee.
"This is extremely unfair to the alliance's candidates," said Lee.
Before Lee finished his argument over the article, Cheng immediately rebutted by asking, "Excuse me, but, isn't the current Referendum Law the version which was passed by KMT and PFP lawmakers? If so, why are you complaining about something that was passed by your own lawmakers?" the judge asked.
Yesterday's four-hour debate did not result in any conclusion, and Cheng did not announce the next hearing date.
SEPARATE: The MAC rebutted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is China’s province, asserting that UN Resolution 2758 neither mentions Taiwan nor grants the PRC authority over it The “status quo” of democratic Taiwan and autocratic China not belonging to each other has long been recognized by the international community, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday in its rebuttal of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan can only be represented in the UN as “Taiwan, Province of China.” Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday at a news conference of the third session at the 14th National People’s Congress said that Taiwan can only be referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China” at the UN. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, which is not only history but
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
Proposed amendments would forbid the use of all personal electronic devices during school hours in high schools and below, starting from the next school year in August, the Ministry of Education said on Monday. The Regulations on the Use of Mobile Devices at Educational Facilities up to High Schools (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則) state that mobile devices — defined as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches or other wearables — should be turned off at school. The changes would stipulate that use of such devices during class is forbidden, and the devices should be handed to a teacher or the school for safekeeping. The amendments also say
RSS