Eight people have been determined ineligible to register as candidates in the Jan. 13 legislative elections, the Central Election Commission (CEC) announced on Friday.
In a statement, the commission said that 315 people registered as regional legislative candidates, with six of them being ineligible to run.
Among the six, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative candidate for Tainan Wang Chia-chen (王家貞) was determined ineligible to run, as she was still on probation and could only take part in elections after April 11, 2025.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Wang was previously sentenced to seven months in prison for forgery and could not run while on probation, in accordance with the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法).
Wang applied for a provisional injunction and asked to stay on the list of candidates before the ruling was confirmed, but the Taipei High Administrative Court rejected her petition on Friday. The ruling can be appealed.
In the wake of the commission’s announcement, the KMT protested the result and said that the commission did not make its judgement based on the principle of non-retroactivity of the law, while also contravening legitimate expectations.
The KMT said in a statement that the act had not been amended when Wang was put on probation on June 2. However, it was amended a few days later, stating that an individual cannot run for public office while on probation.
The party said it would continue to support Wang’s appeal following the announcement on Friday.
A legislative candidate for Kaohsiung’s seventh electoral district, Chu Lei (朱磊), who was born in China’s Anhui Province, lived in Hong Kong and registered his household in Taiwan in 2017, was also ineligible to register as a legislative candidate.
As Chu has not lived in Taiwan for 10 full years, he cannot run for public office in accordance with Article 16 of the Laws and Regulations Regarding Hong Kong and Macau Affairs (香港澳門關係條例), the commission said.
The other four who were ineligible to register as regional legislative candidates were Lan Hsin-chi (藍信祺), a candidate for Taipei’s second electoral district; Huang Hsiu-lung (黃秀龍), a candidate for Hsinchu’s second electoral district; Kinmen’s legislative candidate Ou Yang Yi-hsiung (歐陽儀雄) and Pingtung’s first electoral district legislative candidate Cheng Ching (鄭清).
The commission said Lan, Huang and Ou Yang had all contravened the Controlling Guns, Ammunition and Knives Act (槍砲彈藥刀械管制條例), and were given jail terms. As a result, they could not register in accordance with the Public Officials Election and Recall Act.
Meanwhile, Cheng could not make the registration as he was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison in accordance with the Criminal Code, and thus could not run for the public office under the act, the commission said.
Among indigenous legislative candidates, 10 people had completed their registration, and only one person — Hung Tsao Chun-ming (洪曹純明) — was ineligible to register due to violating the Controlling Guns, Ammunition and Knives Act and being sentenced to two years in prison.
As for the legislator-at-large elections, 16 parties proposed 178 candidates for registration and only one person — Chang Hsing-sung (張幸松) — was ineligible to register.
The commission said that Chang had violated Article 90 of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act and was sentenced to one year and eight months in prison and three years of probation. Chang was also deprived of civil rights for one year.
The commission is set to draw lots for placement on legislative ballots on Wednesday next week, and is to announce the list of candidates for legislative elections on Jan. 2.
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