Amid nationwide demonstrations in response to the election, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday told party members not to provoke the pan-blue camp's supporters, or else they would face disciplinary measures.
High-ranking party officials convened an emergency meeting yesterday morning in response to the protests led by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and People First Party (PFP) alliance.
"We ask all our members nationwide to refrain from provocations or impolite language of any kind, or else they will face serious punishment in accordance with the party's disciplinary regulations," DPP Secretary General Chang Chun-hsiung (
Chang urged KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) to shoulder the responsibility of maintaining social order and not to further create any agitation which would harm a democratic society.
"The Central Election Commission has already announced that President Chen Shui-bian (
Kaohsiung City Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), vice director general of the DPP campaign, said yesterday that the appropriate laws should be revised to enable an automatic recount mechanism if the difference between election results is less than 1 percent.
"I will propose that the related election laws be amended so that the election authority would have to reseal the ballot boxes immediately and recount the votes if the difference is less than 1 percent," Hsieh said.
Such a system would eliminate the causes of unnecessary protests, Hsieh said.
In response to pan-blue supporters' demand that the government recount the votes immediately, Presidential Office Secretary General Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) said that the recount should adhere to legal principles and that the pan-blue alliance's use of a populist appeal to demand swift action from the legal authority was unacceptable.
He urged the pan-blue camp to respect the legal process and put an end to the irrational protests, which could damage Taiwan's international image.
Chiou yesterday dismissed the rumors that Douglas Paal, the director of the American Institute (AIT) in Taiwan, has tried to meet with the leaders of both political camps for mediation. Chou said Paal had arranged to meet both candidates before the election even took place.
"It's a routine matter for the AIT director to meet with presidential candidates after the election. It has nothing to do with mediation to resolve the election dispute," Chiou said.
DPP campaign spokesperson Wu Nai-jen (吳乃仁) yesterday dis-missed Lien's claim that the election had been unfair and that the assassination attempt on Chen had jeopardized the fairness of the election. He said the blue camp just wanted to change their election defeat around.
"They made no protest before the election about the president being shot, but after they lost the election they said it made the election unfair," Wu said.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial
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