A recount of ballots cast in the presidential election was set to begin today, with more than 2,000 judges and court clerks, and more than 1,500 lawyers assigned to the task.
The Taiwan High Court plans to have the recount completed within 10 days.
"During the recount, all the judges and court clerks who participate in the process will temporarily stop their duties, hearings and administrative work until the recount is completed," said Taipei District Court spokesman Huang Jiunn-ming (
PHOTO:CNA
Huang said the Taipei District Court has assigned 120 judges and court clerks to join the recount.
According to the agreement by both the plaintiff, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-People First Party (PFP) alliance, and the defendant, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), teams carrying out the recount must contain at least two lawyers representing both parties, a judge, a court clerk and two Central Election Commission (CEC) employees.
Whenever a controversial ballot is discovered, it will be presented to the Taiwan High Court for a final ruling.
The Taiwan High Court said district courts will not make public the daily progress of the recount. The High Court will announce the final result once the recount has been completed.
Although both parties have hired more than 1,500 lawyers for the recount, Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦), deputy director of the DPP's Information and Culture Department, said the party is still lacking manpower.
"We do not have enough manpower in Miaoli, Hualien and Taitung and we are still working on it," Cheng said. "However, I believe that it will not seriously impact the recount process."
Cheng said the rules for the recount appear to be clear.
"There should not be too many controversial ballots since how to recognize an invalid ballot has been clearly regulated by the CEC and we just need to follow that rule," Cheng said.
DPP Deputy Secretary-General Chung Chia-pin (
"Any controversial ballot will be handled by judges, not lawyers," Chung said. "We trust in judges and justice."
PFP Legislator Liu Wen-hsiung (
"The DPP administration will do whatever it takes to avoid a potential turnover," Liu said.
To maintain public order during the recount, the National Police Administration (NPA) yesterday established an ad hoc joint command.
In addition to demanding that city and county police precincts come up with action plans for their respective constituencies, the NPA has also ordered its peace preservation police corps to boost security for government agencies, senior officials, foreign embassies, representative offices, international organizations and diplomatic corps members.
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