The Central Election Commission (CEC) failed to reach a decision yesterday on how legislative election and referendum ballots will be distributed. Commission members could not reach a consensus during their three-hour meeting.
"We failed to reach a conclusion because many members believed that more factors should be taken into account before a decision is made," commission Chairman Chang Cheng-hsiung (
"We will consult with local election commission officials and local government heads and make a decision when we meet next month," Chang said, without giving a date.
PHOTO: CNA
AT ISSUE
The pan-blue and pan-green camps disagree on how ballots for the legislative elections and two referendums -- one proposed by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and one by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) -- should be distributed to voters on Jan. 12.
The DPP's "stolen assets recovery" referendum seeks to force the KMT to return assets it acquired illegally during its decades of authoritarian rule.
The KMT's "anti-corruption" referendum aims to give the legislature the power to investigate allegations of corruption against the president and subordinates.
During the 2004 presidential election -- the first time a referendum was held alongside a national election -- the ballots were issued separately.
Some commission members have suggested that ballots be handed out together to simplify the voting process. Pan-blue politicians and commission members recommended by pan-blue political parties are opposed to the idea.
"What the DPP is trying to do is to tie the referendum to the election, so that the referendum voting rate can reach the 50 percent threshold as stated in [the Referendum] law (
Chao said distributing the ballots together could spark a riot, given the strong ideological divide between the pan-green and pan-blue camps.
"The Central Election Commission should be concerned with ensuring the voting process is smooth and peaceful," Chao said. "If no serious problems occurred last time when the ballots were issued separately, why should we change it?"
Earlier this week, 18 pan-blue local government leaders vowed to have the ballots distributed separately regardless of what the commission decided.
PFP VIEWPOINT
Chao said waiting until next month to make a decision was a "victory."
"It respects the minority opinion, and I'd call it a small satisfactory victory," Chao said. "However, if the commission votes next time, we [the opponents] will certainly lose."
Chao said a majority of commission members support issuing the two ballots at the same time.
A commission member who wished to remain anonymous said Chang was originally going to call a vote on the issue yesterday. The voting did not occur because another member, Chi Chen-nan (
No one could answer the question during the meeting so the vote was put off.
Chi later confirmed the scenario in a telephone call.
Earlier yesterday, DPP caucus whip Wang Tuoh (
"If that happened the KMT would not have enough money to buy votes and the party would eventually fall apart," Wang said.
The KMT's proposal of issuing the ballots separately would lead to a low voter turn-out for the referendum, and that's exactly what the KMT wants, Wang said.
KMT caucus whip Kuo Su-chun (郭素春) dismissed the pan-green camp's accusation that it was afraid that the DPP's referendum on recovering stolen assets would pass.
KMT Legislator Joanna Lei (
Meanwhile, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) asked why the commission would consider adopting a different way to distribute ballots.
"Issuing ballots separately is better," Wang said. "If this system has proven feasible, we should stick to it. Why do we need to make a drastic change that could cause more controversy?"
At a separate setting, President Chen Shui-bian (
They want the proposed UN referendum to fail, Chen said.
"At one time five ballots were distributed to voters together ... So why can't we do so again this time?" the president said
DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (
"Given that altering the parties in power is a normal thing, it's not right for political parties to boycott the government's policies when they are out of power," Hsieh said.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan, Jimmy Chuang and Flora Wang
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