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.
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
MASSIVE LOSS: If the next recall votes also fail, it would signal that the administration of President William Lai would continue to face strong resistance within the legislature The results of recall votes yesterday dealt a blow to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) efforts to overturn the opposition-controlled legislature, as all 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers survived the recall bids. Backed by President William Lai’s (賴清德) DPP, civic groups led the recall drive, seeking to remove 31 out of 39 KMT lawmakers from the 113-seat legislature, in which the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) together hold a majority with 62 seats, while the DPP holds 51 seats. The scale of the recall elections was unprecedented, with another seven KMT lawmakers facing similar votes on Aug. 23. For a
SOUTH CHINA SEA? The Philippine president spoke of adding more classrooms and power plants, while skipping tensions with China over disputed areas Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday blasted “useless and crumbling” flood control projects in a state of the nation address that focused on domestic issues after a months-long feud with his vice president. Addressing a joint session of congress after days of rain that left at least 31 dead, Marcos repeated his recent warning that the nation faced a climate change-driven “new normal,” while pledging to investigate publicly funded projects that had failed. “Let’s not pretend, the people know that these projects can breed corruption. Kickbacks ... for the boys,” he said, citing houses that were “swept away” by the floods. “Someone has
RSS