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Editorial: Stop braying and start paying

The first court hearing in the suit filed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) to declare the result of the presidential election null and void took place on Friday. However, it only revealed that a speedy resolution of the dispute is just not going to happen.

Apparently the KMT-PFP alliance has again changed its mind -- now, instead of a total recount of the votes, it wants a partial recount of only those votes cast for President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮).

This news came as a surprise even to the alliance's most loyal supporters -- those who have been chanting "immediate and total recount" for two weeks at rallies that have been taking place at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall or in front of the KMT headquarters. Reportedly, some of them couldn't help but ask, "Isn't it more fair to have a total recount?"

Indeed, leaving aside the sense of frustration that the KMT-PFP alliance's indecisiveness has produced, the popular consensus built since the election has been for a total recount, not a partial recount. It was due to this overwhelming public expectation that Chen and Lu waived their legal rights and agreed to a total recount. Otherwise, according to the Presidential Election and Recall Law (總統副總統罷免法), Lien and Soong would only be entitled to a partial recount of the votes cast at individual voting stations, and only if they could submit evidence to prove the votes had been tampered with.

Moreover, no one who genuinely wishes to resolve all disputes regarding the votes once and for all can be satisfied with a partial recount, which would forever leave the country under a cloud of skepticism about the election result. A partial recount could only be bad for the stability of the country.

Besides, during the hearing on Friday, Lien and Soong's attorneys charged that the numbers of votes cast for the two camps had been erroneously reversed in some cases. In order to verify whether that accusation is correct, the votes cast for both camps would of course have to be recounted. Otherwise, the recount would be meaningless.

The main reason that the KMT-PFP alliance is asking for a partial recount is that it is unwilling to fork out money for the enormous expenses that would be entailed in a complete recount. According to KMT Secretary-General Lin Fong-cheng (林豐正), if the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) wants a recount of the votes cast for Lien and Soong, the pan-blue camp will give its consent -- meaning that the DPP will have to pay for it.

Since Chen and Lu are the defendants being dragged into this lawsuit and are cooperating out of good faith, the pan-blue camp just doesn't seem to be playing fair. This is not to mention that since, according to current law, the party losing the lawsuit will have to pay for a recount when all is said and done, all these calculations and conniving about who should pick up the bill just seem like a waste of time.

Moreover, it isn't as if the KMT-PFP alliance does not have the money to pay for a recount. Leaving aside its own great wealth, it is receiving around NT$200 million (US$6.06 million) from the government -- NT$30 for each vote garnered -- as a campaign subsidy.

Finally, since the alliance can afford to run whole-page ads in major newspapers on a daily basis to make wild allegations against the government and the president, it is hard to believe that it cannot pay for a recount.
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