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Taiwan election lawsuit put on hold
(China Daily)
Updated: 2004-04-07 23:56 In a bid to facilitate a speedy vote recount,
Taiwan's opposition announced Wednesday it was temporarily withdrawing a lawsuit
which sought to void the result of last month's "presidential'' election.
A student refuses
to eat and drink to protest the March 20 election.
[people.com.cn] | The move came only two days after Kuomintang (KMT) candidate Lien Chan filed
a petition asking the island's high court to declare the March 20 election
invalid.
KMT lawyers said they intend first to focus on another suit, which was filed
last Monday, to nullify the narrow victory of Chen Shui-bian of the ruling
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and demand a recount.
"We decided to temporarily withdraw the election nullification suit," said
Lee Tsung-teh, a KMT lawyer.
"We think we should let the court, which is already handling the earlier
case, go ahead with a full judicial recount."
On March 26 the island's "central election committee" certified the
re-election of Chen by just 0.2 per cent, or less than 30,000 votes out of more
than 13 million ballots cast.
Lien, however, has challenged Chen's razor-thin victory, alleging the
election was marred by numerous voting irregularities, including a record
330,000 spoiled ballots.
He also claimed a mysterious election-eve shooting that slightly wounded both
Chen and his running mate, Annette Lu, caused a swelling of sympathy votes.
Opposition lawyers said they were worried the two petitions filed with the
high court would make progress in resolving the conflict needlessly slow.
They said their decision to withdraw the second petition was based on
concerns that the judges might order recounts in both cases, increasing
confusion.
A separate panel of judges would handle the second petition, and might order
a recount as an interim step in deciding whether there were enough
irregularities to order a complete redo of the election.
"If the court decides to have simultaneous recounts in both cases, and if the
recount methods are different, then those could interfere with each other,''
said opposition lawyer Lee Yi-kuang.
"If the results of the two recounts are not the same, will this not create
even more social unease?''
The opposition lawyers Wednesday also clarified their demands in the petition
for a recount.
The court earlier gave the two parties five days to iron out the terms of a
recount and they were expected to submit their proposals to the judges later
Wednesday.
The attorneys told the court they wanted judges, not election officials, to
play a key role in the recount. The opposition has said judges are more likely
to be impartial.
The lawyers also want the recount to be detailed, with judges poring over
each disputed ballot.
Chen favours having election workers handle the re-tally.
The lawyers said they knew that going against opposition demands for a quick
recount would slow the process.
"Even though this way the recount will need more time and people, we think
it's worth investing more time and people,'' lawyer Tsai Yu-ling
said.
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