Wed, Mar 14, 2001 page1

• Opposition puts a halt to reforms on vote-buying

  'BLACK GOLD' Legislators have slammed the brakes on a DPP request to rush through amendments to the election law, saying the measures had come too late

  • By Stephanie Low / STAFF REPORTER
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  Opposition parties yesterday thwarted an urgent DPP attempt to amend the Public Officials Elections and Recall Law (公職人員選舉罷免法) to attack the problem of vote-buying within the DPP, on the grounds that the amendment would be unlikely to be completed in time to affect the DPP primaries on April 1.

  Legislators turned down a request to hold a legislature sitting tomorrow to finish the ongoing legislative process for the amendment.

  "We believe the DPP is sincere about the reform, but we regret the fact that it is already too late for this amendment," said Hsieh Chi-ta (謝啟大), convener of the New Party caucus in the legislature.

  "All the votes [for sale] will have been bought. There will be no people to arrest after the law is passed," Hsieh added.

  The amendment was proposed by a group of DPP legislators last week, following reports of vote-buying in the period leading up to the party primaries -- held to decide the party's nominees for the year-end legislative elections.

  The legislature's Home and Nations Committee finished a preliminary review of the amendment on Monday, and it was the DPP's wish that the amendment could be passed, in light of the limited time available, before April 1.

  The DPP negotiated with opposition caucuses to seek to rearrange the agenda for this week -- which had already been fixed a week before -- proposing that the legislature convene tomorrow to go through the second and final readings for the amendment.

  However, according to leaders of the opposition caucuses participating in the negotiation, even if the amendment were to pass tomorrow, it would not take effect until March 22 at the earliest.

  While it takes at least one day for the paperwork involved to be completed before a piece of legislation is sent to the president for signing, a law will only take effect three days after it has been signed.

  As the amendment would be a non-retroactive one, there would be approximately one week for law-enforcement authorities to step in and start handling vote-buying allegations.

  People First Party Legislator Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋) called the DPP's attempt to push through the amendment now a "ridiculous" one, in light of the fact that vote-buying has already taken place.

  "Any prosecutions must be supported by substantial physical evidence. It would be impossible for prosecutors to start their crackdown before the amendment is passed," Chou said.

  In addition, opposition lawmakers argued that the proposal put forth by the DPP is incomplete, and that it needs further consideration.

  For example, under the DPP proposal, a candidate who buys his or her victory at a party primary would not have his candidacy nullified, although he or she would face imprisonment.

  "The KMT will definitely support efforts against vote-buying and `black-gold,' but we hope the amendment is a comprehensive one," said KMT caucus whip Cheng Yung-chin (鄭永金).

  The DPP said yesterday's development was a regrettable one.

  DPP Legislator Trong Chai (蔡同榮), the chief initiator of the amendment, said the negotiations broke down yesterday mainly because some KMT legislators suspected that the amendment was being raised to target them rather than solve the current problem faced by the DPP.

  The KMT is set to hold primaries for the very first time on May 5.
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