With the national recount nearing completion, an estimated 35,000 "controversial ballots" have been presented to the Taiwan High Court, which is slated to resume hearings next week with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-People First Party (PFP) alliance and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to debate the controversial ballots.
Among the 21 district courts where the recount has been processed during the past eight days, only Panchiao, Changhua and Tainan District Courts are still recounting ballots, but all of the recount workers will finish their jobs no later than Thursday.
Those district courts where the recount has completed will allow lawyers to review voters' name lists, if necessary, beginning today.
"A final decision about whether a controversial ballot is valid or not will be made by judges anyway. However, lawyers from both the plaintiff and the defendant will have a chance to defend their arguments and persuade judges to consider their proposals," said Hsu Chang-jin (
Hsu made his remarks when he was approached by reporters yesterday afternoon. However, he also said that an exact date for the hearing has not yet been decided.
According to an agreement made by both parties during previous hearings, either party is authorized to review the voter name lists in certain constituencies whenever any errors are discovered. In addition, all of the errors and the result of the lawyers' reviews can be presented as evidence.
Since the Taiwan High Court asked both parties not to make public comments about the latest developments in the recount, a rough estimate by the DPP's lawyers showed that there are at least 35,000 "controversial ballots" which will be the focus of the lawyers during future court hearings.
The "controversial ballots" are ballots which were smudged with ink, unclearly stamped or stamped on the edge of the stamping area on the ballot.
In the meantime, according to rough statistics made by the DPP, President Chen Shui-bian (
"That is only our rough figure," said Cheng Wen-tsan (
"But none of us are worried about it, since it is not going to make a big difference," Cheng said.
"Plus, the majority of the controversial ballots were actually stamped for us. As a result, it will be quite difficult for our opponent to take advantage of them," Cheng added.
In the meantime, PFP Policy Research Center Director Chang Hsien-yao (
"All these defects tell us directly that there must be something wrong with the election," said Chang.
"We will collect all the defects as our evidence to defend our argument during future hearings. We are quite confident about it," said Chang.
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