The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday apologized on behalf of its chairman, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), after he discussed a public opinion poll on the Yilan County commissioner election, but insisted that Ma did not do this to influence the election.
Article 53 of the Election and Recall Act (選舉罷免法) prohibits individuals and political parties from reporting on, publishing, commenting on or quoting the results of opinion polls in the 10 days leading up to an election.
Speaking at the KMT’s Central Standing Committee meeting in Yilan County on Wednesday, Ma quoted a media poll about the outlook for the Yilan County commissioner election. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) later lodged a protest, saying Ma had broken the law.
PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
“Chairman Ma was deeply disturbed [by the matter] and felt it necessary to apologize to the public,” KMT Secretary-General Chan Chun-po (詹春柏) told a press conference yesterday at KMT headquarters.
At Wednesday’s meeting, Ma cited the opinion poll, saying the situation in Yilan was tight and that party members should step up their efforts to campaign for the KMT’s candidate, Lu Kuo-hua (呂國華).
Chan said Ma had been unaware that it was less than 10 days until the election when he addressed the committee on Wednesday.
Nevertheless, Chan said, Ma did not break the law, as he made the comments during a KMT meeting, not at a public event.
Chan said it was up to the Central Election Commission (CEC) to decide whether Ma broke the law.
Ma and the party will respect the commission’s decision, Chan said.
When asked how the CEC would handle the case, commission Secretary-General Teng Tien-yu (鄧天祐) said the CEC had authorized the Yilan Central Election Commission to investigate the incident.
Yilan Election Commission Acting Chairman Chen Yuan-fa (陳源發) told reporters that the commission would send a written request to Ma to present his side of the story.
“We will look at what he has to say before making a decision on whether or how he should be penalized,” Chen said. “But we’re not likely to conclude the probe before the election [next Saturday].”
Several DPP county councilors yesterday staged a demonstration outside the county commission, asking it to launch an investigation immediately.
Meanwhile, the DPP said Ma was setting the worst possible example by violating the Election and Recall Act.
“The president has been quite nonchalant on many issues, including the post-Typhoon Morakot reconstruction effort and the US beef issue. Elections are a very serious matter and we ask the president to be more circumspect and stop setting a bad example,” DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said.
She urged the CEC to penalize Ma in accordance with the law to prevent any “future complications.”
DPP Spokesman Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) made the same plea to the CEC, saying a DPP campaign staffer was fined NT$500,000 for accidentally mentioning a public opinion poll within the 10-day embargo period in last year’s legislative election.
The DPP’s Yilan County candidate, Lin Tsung-hsien (林聰賢), urged the county election commission to remain impartial.
“It’s common knowledge that no numbers on candidates’ support rates can be released in the 10 days before the election,” Lin told a press conference. “Ma is a legal expert, he should know this very well.”
At a press conference yesterday, the DPP accused Lu of dirty tricks, saying his campaign headquarters had distributed leaflets depicting Lin as a “womanizer.”
Lin’s wife, who was at the press conference, sobbed as she accused the KMT of handing out leaflets insinuating that her husband was a womanizer because he had been married before.
Lu’s campaign team hit back immediately, denying the accusation and saying the leaflets were leftovers from an election eight years ago, when another candidate ran against Lin.
Lu’s team said Lin should apologize for making false allegations.
The KMT meanwhile continued attacks on former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), saying Tsai should stop Hsieh from creating conflict during the election campaign period.
Heated clashes erupted between KMT and DPP supporters on Tuesday night in Hsinchu when the police blocked off streets as Ma accompanied the KMT’s Hsinchu County commissioner candidate, Chiu Ching-chun (邱鏡淳), on a visit to a night market in Jhubei City (竹北), obstructing a DPP campaign group led by former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷).
The KMT blamed the clashes on Hsieh and accused him of provoking the conflict.
KMT Spokesman Lee Chien-jung (李建榮) said Hsieh was well aware of Ma’s campaigning schedule and tried to create conflict by getting close to his campaign team.
Lee said Hsieh had used the same approach during the presidential election campaign.
After provoking the KMT campaign team into scuffles, Hsieh and his supporters would videotape the clashes and later blame the clashes on the KMT and the police, Lee said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY FLORA WANG AND LOA IOK-SIN
LEVERAGE: China did not ‘need to fire a shot’ to deny Taiwan airspace over Africa when it owns ‘half the continent’s debt,’ a US official said, calling it economic warfare The EU has raised concerns about overflight rights following the delay of President William Lai’s (賴清德) planned state visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini after three African nations denied overflight clearance for his charter at the last minute. Taiwanese allies Paraguay and Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as several US lawmakers and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) condemned China for allegedly pressuring the countries. Lai was scheduled to fly directly to Taiwan’s only African ally from yesterday to Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and his 58th birthday, but Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar suddenly revoked
PROVOCATIVE: Chinese Deputy Ambassador to the UN Sun Lei accused Japan of sending military vessels to deliberately provoke tensions in the Taiwan Strait China denounced remarks by Japan and the EU about the South China Sea at a UN Security Council meeting on Monday, and accused Tokyo of provocative behavior in the Taiwan Strait and planning military expansion. Ayano Kunimitsu, a Japanese vice foreign minister, told the Council meeting on maritime security that Tokyo was seriously concerned about the situation in the East China and South China seas, and reiterated Japan’s opposition to any attempt to change the “status quo” by force, and obstruction of freedom of navigation and overflight. Stavros Lambrinidis, head of the EU delegation to the UN, also highlighted South China Sea
The final batch of 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks purchased from the US arrived at Taipei Port last night and were transported to the Armor Training Command in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), completing the military’s multi-year procurement of 108 of the tanks. Starting at 12:10am today, reporters observed more than a dozen civilian flatbed trailers departing from Taipei Port, each carrying an M1A2T tank covered with black waterproof tarps. Escorted by military vehicles, the convoy traveled via the West Coast Expressway to the Armor Training Command, with police implementing traffic control. The army operates about 1,000 tanks, including CM-11 Brave Tiger
China on Wednesday teased in a video an aircraft carrier that could be its fourth, and the first using nuclear power, while making an allusion to Taiwan and vowing to further build up its islands, as it looks to boost maritime power, secure resources and bolster territorial claims. The video, issued on the eve of the 77th founding anniversary of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy, featured fictional officers with names that are homophones of three commissioned aircraft carriers, the Liaoning (遼寧), Shandong (山東) and Fujian (福建). Titled Into the Deep, it showed a 19-year-old named “Hejian” (何劍) joining the group, sparking
RSS