The election recount was completed yesterday, two days earlier than scheduled, when the Panchiao District Court finished its review of the presidential election ballots.
The Panchiao court was the last of the 20 district courts to finish the recount, due to the huge number of ballots it had to review. Panchiao had the greatest number of voters in a single constituency.
The Penghu District Court also finished a review of voters' name lists yesterday that had been requested by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-People First Party (PFP) alliance.
"The Taiwan High Court will allow the alliance's legal representatives to apply to review and check certain voters' name lists in those constituencies where human errors were discovered during the recount," said Hsu Chang-jin (
"Some of these reviews have been carried out since Monday," Hsu said.
As for the recount process itself, several common errors were found. Recount workers in Penghu discovered that 150 voters' personal chops, which are regarded as signatures, did not match the printed names on the list of registered voters.
In Keelung, 39 voters' chops did not match the printed names on the name list. In addition, 217 voters received ballots by inking a fingerprint instead of their name chop. However, no Central Election Commission (CEC) employee signature countersigned the fingerprints, which is considered an error.
In Ilan, the personal chops of 15 voters did not match the printed names on the list of voters and 21 voters left fingerprints when picking up their ballots without a commission worker signing off on the fingerprint.
In Taoyuan, 50 voters provided fingerprints instead of chops, again without a commission countersignature.
Kuo Lin-yung (
"Obtaining a ballot by leaving a fingerprint is legal and totally reasonable," Kuo said. "It cannot be considered cheating."
While the DPP believes that there is no hope that the alliance will be able to overturn the election results, a senior KMT official appeared confident yesterday of doing just that.
KMT Secretary-General Lin Fong-cheng (
"The election is about cheating," Lin said. "The DPP said earlier that it might take a year to accomplish the recount. However, it took less than 10 days."
"With all the evidence of cheating that we discovered during the recount, I am quite confident that we are going to win the suits and overturn the [election] result," Lin added.
Lin said that the alliance has faith in the judicial system because justice is the last defense. He also said the alliance would respect whatever the judges decide.
The next step in the recount process is a hearing for the two sides to debate how to recognize those ballots deemed controversial. The hearing will be held sometime next week, but a date has not yet been set.
The review of voter name lists is scheduled to be completed before June 18.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
TRUMP ERA: The change has sparked speculation on whether it was related to the new US president’s plan to dismiss more than 1,000 Joe Biden-era appointees The US government has declined to comment on a post that indicated the departure of Laura Rosenberger as chair of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Neither the US Department of State nor the AIT has responded to the Central News Agency’s questions on the matter, after Rosenberger was listed as a former chair on the AIT’s official Web site, with her tenure marked as 2023 to this year. US officials have said previously that they usually do not comment on personnel changes within the government. Rosenberger was appointed head of the AIT in 2023, during the administration of former US president Joe
ON PAROLE: The 73-year-old suspect has a criminal record of rape committed when he was serving in the military, as well as robbery and theft, police said The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday approved the detention of a 73-year-old man for allegedly murdering three women. The suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the death of a 71-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙). The Kaohsiung City Police Department yesterday also unveiled the identities of two other possible victims in the serial killing case, a 75-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃), the suspect’s sister-in-law, and a 75-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), who is not related to the suspect. The case came to light when Chao disappeared after taking the suspect back to his residence on Sunday. Police, upon reviewing CCTV
RSS