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.
Taiwan’s passport ranked 34th in the world, with access to 141 visa-free destinations, according to the latest update to the Henley Passport Index released today. The index put together by Henley & Partners ranks 199 passports globally based on the number of destinations holders can access without a visa out of 227, and is updated monthly. The 141 visa-free destinations for Taiwanese passport holders are a slight decrease from last year, when holders had access to 145 destinations. Botswana and Columbia are among the countries that have recently ended visa-free status for Taiwanese after “bowing to pressure from the Chinese government,” the Ministry
Theaters and institutions in Taiwan have received 28 threatening e-mails, including bomb threats, since a documentary critical of China began being screened across the nation last month, the National Security Bureau said yesterday. The actions are part of China’s attempts to undermine Taiwan’s sovereignty, it said. State Organs (國有器官) documents allegations that Chinese government officials engage in organ harvesting and other illegal activities. From last month to Friday last week, 28 incidents have been reported of theaters or institutions receiving threats, including bomb and shooting threats, if they did not stop showing the documentary, the bureau said. Although the threats were not carried out,
HEALTHCARE: Following a 2022 Constitutional Court ruling, Taiwanese traveling overseas for six months would no longer be able to suspend their insurance Measures allowing people to suspend National Health Insurance (NHI) services if they plan to leave the country for six months would be abolished starting Dec. 23, NHIA Director-General Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said yesterday. The decision followed the Constitutional Court’s ruling in 2022 that the regulation was unconstitutional and that it would invalidate the regulation automatically unless the NHIA amended it to conform with the Constitution. The agency would amend the regulations to remove the articles and sections that allow the suspension of NHI services, and also introduce provisional clauses for those who suspended their NHI services before Dec. 23, Shih said. According to
‘GRAY ZONE’ TACTICS: China continues to build up its military capacity while regularly deploying jets and warships around Taiwan, with the latest balloon spotted on Sunday The US is drawing up contingency plans for military deployments in Japan and the Philippines in case of a Taiwan emergency, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported. They would be incorporated in a first joint operation plan to be formulated in December, Kyodo reported late on Sunday, citing sources familiar with Japan-US relations. A US Marine Corps regiment that possesses High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems — a light multiple rocket launcher — would be deployed along the Nansei Island chain stretching from Kyushu to Yonaguni near Taiwan, Kyodo said. According to US military guidelines for dispatching marines in small formations to several locations,
RSS