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.
Also See Stories:
Pan-blue legislators to turn attention to recount
Editorial: What goes around comes around
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
TRUST: The KMT said it respected the US’ timing and considerations, and hoped it would continue to honor its commitments to helping Taiwan bolster its defenses and deterrence US President Donald Trump is delaying a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan to ensure his visit to Beijing is successful, a New York Times report said. The weapons sales package has stalled in the US Department of State, the report said, citing US officials it did not identify. The White House has told agencies not to push forward ahead of Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), it said. The two last month held a phone call to discuss trade and geopolitical flashpoints ahead of the summit. Xi raised the Taiwan issue and urged the US to handle arms sales to
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
Pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s (黎智英) fraud conviction and prison sentence were yesterday overturned by a Hong Kong court, in a surprise legal decision that comes soon after Lai was jailed for 20 years on a separate national security charge. Judges Jeremy Poon (潘兆初), Anthea Pang (彭寶琴) and Derek Pang (彭偉昌) said in the judgement that they allowed the appeal from Lai, and another defendant in the case, to proceed, as a lower court judge had “erred.” “The Court of Appeal gave them leave to appeal against their conviction, allowed their appeals, quashed the convictions and set aside the sentences,” the judges
RSS