Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Fan Yun (范雲) on Thursday criticized the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for not withdrawing Legislator Chen Hsueh-sheng’s (陳雪生) nomination ahead of elections next year after a court ruled that he had harassed Fan during a scuffle inside the legislature in Taipei in 2020.
Fan said that the KMT — which on Wednesday released the results of its internal investigation of the matter — had deceived the public by promising to “apply the highest standard regarding sexual harassment cases.”
The KMT’s decision to permit Chen to retain his nomination to run in the legislative race for Lienchiang County was “nauseating” and “a big joke,” Fan said.
Photo: Taipei Times
The High Court earlier this month upheld a ruling against Chen and ordered him to pay NT$80,000 in compensation after Fan filed a civil lawsuit against him for bumping her from behind three times as lawmakers jostled inside the legislative chamber.
The court reached its decision after viewing videos of the incident and hearing the accounts of other lawmakers, with some saying that they heard Chen comment: “It is not sexual harassment, as you cannot get pregnant from [being bumped by] a belly.”
The KMT in its report on Wednesday ordered Chen to attend a gender equality course, but said he would retain his nomination as “he did not contravene any party rules for candidates.”
“The incident occurred amid a physical altercation, during which it would have been impossible to avoid contact with others,” it said.
“I was the victim of Chen’s sexual harassment and the KMT’s decision is a big joke,” Fan wrote online. “It claims to apply the highest standards, but in reality it applied the highest level of tolerance.”
“It is nauseating,” she wrote. “The court ruled that he was culpable.”
“The KMT’s decision harms the reputation of members of the legislature,” she added.
DPP Legislator Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) said that the KMT has double standards.
“It is concerned about political issues, so it can condone a sexual harassment offender,” Hung said.
KMT Legislator Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) and other KMT members have been vocal in their demands that former DPP deputy secretary-general Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) have his nomination for a legislative seat in Taipei revoked following allegations that Lin did not respond properly to a party staff member’s complaints about being harassed, Hung said.
“A DPP internal probe showed that Lin was not a fault, but he withdrew anyway, but Wang and other KMT members are supporting Chen, who was found culpable by a court,” Hung said.
Chen can continue his campaign and he was given “a slap on the wrist” by only having to attend a gender equality course, which is in no way comparable with the high standards Wang demanded that the DPP adhere to, Hung added.
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