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
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
ON ALERT: Taiwan’s partners would issue warnings if China attempted to use Interpol to target Taiwanese, and the global body has mechanisms to prevent it, an official said China has stationed two to four people specializing in Taiwan affairs at its embassies in several democratic countries to monitor and harass Taiwanese, actions that the host nations would not tolerate, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which asked him and Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to report on potential conflicts in the Taiwan Strait and military preparedness. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) expressed concern that Beijing has posted personnel from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office to its
BACK TO WORK? Prosecutors said they are considering filing an appeal, while the Hsinchu City Government said it has applied for Ann Kao’s reinstatement as mayor The High Court yesterday found suspended Hsinchu mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) not guilty of embezzling assistant fees, reducing her sentence to six months in prison commutable to a fine from seven years and four months. The verdict acquitted Kao of the corruption charge, but found her guilty of causing a public official to commit document forgery. The High Prosecutors’ Office said it is reviewing the ruling and considering whether to file an appeal. The Taipei District Court in July last year sentenced Kao to seven years and four months in prison, along with a four-year deprivation of civil rights, for contravening the Anti-Corruption
RSS