The amendments stipulate that local election commission members may be removed from office because of severe illness, involvement in illegal conduct or for abandoning their official duties, being detained or indicted, Teng said.
A fourth proposal that they may be fired if they engage in "behavior that may damage the institution's credibility or legitimacy in execution of one's official duties" was dropped because it was too controversial, Teng said.
The CEC may only request a local commission member's removal following ratification by a commission meeting, Teng said.
Teng did not respond when asked if insisting on two-step voting would qualify as "abandoning official duties."
The amendments will be submitted to the Cabinet for approval.
Meanwhile, rocked by the resignations of two local election commissioners, the KMT yesterday dismissed concerns that some of the 18 local governments governed by pan-blues were wavering from their stance on the two-step voting system, while urging the Cabinet to refrain from further damaging the neutrality of the CEC.
KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) called on all pan-blue local election commissions to consolidate their efforts and support the two-step voting format, but declined to comment on the party's strategy in response to the Cabinet's "threat" to replace local election commissioners who fail to follow the one-step voting scheme.
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