In a landmark ruling that is expected to have wide political ramifications, the Taiwan High Court handed down a “not guilty” verdict to 10 then-New Taipei City councilors who “flashed ballots” to show observers their votes in the city council’s 2010 speaker election.
The ruling upheld the decision by the New Taipei City District Court in May last year, which found the 10 Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) councilors, including Lee Wan-yu (李婉鈺) and Sheng Fa-hui (沈發惠), who were charged with disclosure of state secrets and related offenses arising from the case, not guilty.
Yesterday’s ruling is seen by senior DPP officials and some civic groups as a positive development, as they have long advocated for changes to institute “recorded voting,” or “roll call voting,” instead of the current “secret ballots” in local councils.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
They see “recorded voting” as a better political reform measure to counter potential bribery and vote-buying, and to monitor councilors who vote against the majority of their constituents’ wishes.
The High Court ruling states that city and county council speakers and deputy speakers have job functions that entail important political and administrative policies, and previous court decisions cited Article 132 of the Criminal Code, which covers public officials’ disclosure of documents or information of a secret nature on matters outside of national defense.
In this decision, the judges said that in the case of the election of speaker and deputy speaker by councilors, the voting and balloting process in itself is not concerned with national political and administrative policies, and as such, the “ballot flashing” was not in violation of Article 132, and therefore the councilors were found not guilty.
The decision is final and cannot be appealed.
Following the High Court’s decision, Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Prosecutor-General Yen Ta-ho (顏大和) cited the different rulings between the 2010 council speaker election in Greater Kaohsiung and the then-Taichung City election in 1994.
Yen said he would make an “extraordinary appeal” to the Supreme Court on the not-guilty ruling in the “ballot flashing” case of Greater Kaohsiung councilors in the 2010 council speaker election, because he noted the court found Taichung City councilors guilty in a similar situation in 1994.
DPP spokesperson Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎) and legal counsel Wellington Koo (顧立雄) urged the judiciary to focus on bribery and vote-buying in local council elections, and to not waste resources going after councilors who cast the ballots.
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
TIT-FOR-TAT: The US allegedly revoked the visa of a Chinese national working at Xinhua News Agency in the US in response to Beijing’s expulsion of Vivian Wang The Presidential Office yesterday condemned China for expelling a New York Times correspondent from Beijing following the newspaper’s interview with President William Lai (賴清德), saying the move highlighted Beijing’s suppression of press freedom and its threat to international news media. Taiwan has noted a series of recent incidents in which Beijing used similar tactics to “threaten and pressure international media outlets and journalists,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said in a statement. “This concerns not only press freedom and freedom of expression, but also the safety of journalists, and Taiwan and relevant partners are paying close attention to the situation,” she
NOT IMMEDIATE: Taiwan has a chance to appeal the proposed 10 percent tariff before it starts, while other countries face a 12.5 percent tariff from the trade office Taiwan is among 60 economies determined by the US to have failed to impose or enforce a ban on the importation of goods produced with forced labor, according to a notice released on Tuesday by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), which proposed imposing an additional 10 percent or more tariff on them. The USTR in a statement said that following an investigation, it had determined under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 that the failure of the 60 economies to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor is
RSS