The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Ting Shou-chung (丁守中) yesterday filed an application with the Taipei District Court to have the ballots from Saturday’s Taipei mayoral election sealed and was expected to file a lawsuit to have the vote annulled after losing the mayoral race to Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲).
The election was held alongside 10 referendums at 1,563 polling stations citywide from 8am to 7:46pm, but the ballot counting in the neck-and-neck race lasted for more than 10 hours until 2:35am yesterday.
In the five-way race, Ko garnered 580,820 votes, or 41.05 percent of the votes cast, against Ting’s 577,566 votes (40.82 percent).
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Pasuya Yao (姚文智) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) received 244,641 votes, or 17.29 percent.
Ting, who lost to Ko by 3,254 votes, arrived at the court with his lawyer at about 3:15am yesterday.
At about 6am, the court issued a ruling requiring him to pay a deposit of NT$4.3 million (US$139,150) within 24 hours.
According to the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), the applicant must pay a deposit of NT$3 per vote for a recount, the court said, adding that 1,427,643 votes were cast in the Taipei mayoral election.
Ting’s application would be rejected if he does not make the deposit, it said.
Ting told reporters in front of the court that he believes there were major illegalities in the voting and counting process.
Taipei was the only city in this year’s elections where the “dump-save effect” could have occurred, he said, referring to strategic voting by the public to sacrifice one candidate for another in the event of a tight race between multiple — usually three — candidates.
Candidates were barred from releasing polls 10 days before the elections to prevent influencing voters and campaigning was not allowed on election day, he said.
Despite the measures, vote counting took place for three hours and 46 minutes as ballots were still being cast on Saturday, he said, adding that no other country in the world would allow this to happen.
Ting also questioned the counting process, which he said took more than nine hours and was paused several times.
New Taipei City has a bigger population than Taipei, but its counting process was faster, he said.
Ting said he suspects the Central Election Commission (CEC) and the Taipei City Election Commission conspired to bring forth the “dump-save effect” in the city, insinuating that pan-green camp voters “sacrificed” Yao to elect Ko, an independent.
It was a “dirty trick” played by the DPP, he added.
Ting said his next step would be to file a lawsuit to invalidate the election.
The CEC and Ko said they respect Ting’s decision.
If Ting emerges as victor in the recount, the court would return his deposit, but he would forfeit the money if he loses the recount, according to the act.
The act also requires that the local government cover the expenses of the recount.
Lawyer Lin Chih-chun (林智群) said that if the KMT claims that simultaneous voting and vote-counting would affect the results of the election, then it should file lawsuits to invalidate all of the elections in the cities and counties where that was the case.
Voting and counting also happened simultaneously in New Taipei City, Taichung and Kaohsiung, cities in which the KMT won, he said.
Ting’s legal team said that alleged illegalities in Taipei were enough to influence the results of the election, adding that the “dump-save effect” only happened in Taipei.
Additional reporting by Chung Hung-liang and CNA
RESILIENCE: Taiwan plays a key role in semiconductors, energy, information infrastructure and advanced manufacturing, AIT Director Raymond Greene said Taiwan’s continued investment in deterrence and resilience remains vital, especially in uncrewed systems and other emerging technologies, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene said yesterday. Greene made the remarks at the annual National Strategic Summit on Supply Chain Resilience held by the Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET), a government-backed think tank. As Taiwan last year became the US’ fourth-largest trading partner and supply chain security is becoming more important, cooperation in emerging technologies continues to deepen between the two countries, he said. The US is committed to accelerating innovation, building key infrastructure, strengthening cooperation
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
RIGHT DIRECTION: Taiwan’s efforts to prevent forced labor include a proposal to ‘fully prohibit’ employers from withholding workers’ documents, an official said Taiwan is to establish a mechanism to restrict imports of goods linked to forced labor, the Executive Yuan said yesterday, after the US proposed imposing additional tariffs on Taiwanese goods over labor concerns. “The Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Economic Affairs are to establish an interministerial review procedure,” Executive Yuan spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “The government is to use the Foreign Trade Act [貿易法] as the legal basis to restrict imports of goods produced with forced labor” and bring its supply chain governance more in line with international standards on human rights, resilience
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