CEC says two-step voting is invalid

The Central Election Commission (CEC) yesterday rebutted commission Secretary-General Teng Tien-yu's (鄧天祐) comment on Monday that votes cast via the two-step voting system would be considered valid. It also said that the results of next month's legislative elections would be finalized and announced within one week of the ballot -- and not on election day.

CEC Chairman Chang Cheng-hsiung (張政雄), accompanied by Cabinet Spokesman Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉), slammed the two-step voting system advocated by the pan-blue camp, and said the commission would never allow "one nation, two systems" to prevail.

They added that CEC officials who violate the commission's "one-step voting" procedure decree would face legal repercussions.

"They may be found in violation of Article 153 of the Criminal Code for inciting the public to violate the law, as a result of which they might be given a two-year prison sentence," Chang said.

Officials who employ the two-step voting system may also be punished in accordance with the Civil Servants' Work Act (公務員服務法), Civil Service Performance Evaluation Act (公務人員考績法) and Law on Discipline of Public Functionaries (公務員懲戒法), Chang said.

"No single member of the CEC, including myself, can decide whether ballots cast under the two-step voting process are valid or invalid," Chang said.

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) have been at loggerheads about the voting system. The KMT prefers a two-step voting format in which voters would receive the legislative ballots and cast them first, before receiving the ballots for the two referendums.

The DPP advocates a one-step voting system in which voters receive the ballots for the legislative elections and two referendums at two separate desks before casting them into four separate boxes.

"The CEC decided on Nov. 16 to adopt the one-step voting system. We will carry through with our decision and prohibit any other type of voting," Chang said.

Asked what would happen to ballots cast in polling stations that disregard the CEC decision, Chang said that by law, the CEC has one week to deliberate on the validity of the ballots before it announces the winners.

BONA FIDE

During a question-and-answer session on Monday with pan-blue lawmakers, Teng said all ballots, regardless of how they were cast, would be tallied as bona fide.

"Teng's personal opinion cannot and does not represent the intent of the CEC," Chang said.

Meanwhile, emphasizing that the two-step voting system was illegal and ineffective, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said yesterday he believed the CEC would take steps to implement the one-step voting format.

In response to Chang's comments, the KMT caucus said Teng's remark showed his "conscience."

KMT caucus whip Kuo Su-chun (郭素春) told a press conference that the legislature has Teng's remark on tape, adding that the commission could deny it.

KMT Legislator Tsai Chin-lung (蔡錦隆) said the CEC's reaction to Teng's remark showed that "the Cabinet controlled the CEC and has undermined its independence."

"The Democratic Progressive Party should rename itself the `Democratic Regressive Party,'" Tsai said.

BIRD-FLU PRETEXT

Kuo said KMT Legislator Ting Shou-chung (丁守中) had received "information" from "friends from abroad" that the DPP could use a bird-flu alert as a pretext to prevent businesspeople based in China from returning to vote.