Dec. 1 elections: Election commission case passed to Executive Yuan

The Central Election Commission (CEC) has decided to pass the handling of a possible violation of the Public Officials Election and Recall Law by a commission member to the Executive Yuan.

Hwang Kun-hu (黃崑虎), a national policy advisor and CEC committee member, has been accused of violating the election law over an appearance he made at a campaign rally for the DPP's Tainan County Commissioner candidate Su Huan-chih (蘇煥智).

Hwang insists that he hasn't violated any regulations and therefore should not be punished. Critics say Hwang ran afoul of regulations because he gave a speech at a rally for Su -- a prohibited activity for CEC members.

"If my behavior is considered not impartial, that's too bad. I won't apologize for it, because I haven't violated any regulations," Hwang said.

The CEC also asked Hwang not to make any additional campaign appearances. Hwang accepted the request and said he would not attend election-related activities.

Hwang argued that the CEC's Tainan County bureau should be asked to explain irregularities in its handling of the case.

"The bureau should advise an individual not to participate in prohibited activities. If the individual doesn't heed the warning, the bureau should then issue the individual a formal warning," he said.

According to Hwang, the CEC's Tainan bureau didn't follow these procedures. Hwang also argued that the campaign for the Dec. 1 elections didn't officially begin until today and that at the event in question, held over a month ago, Su wasn't yet an official candidate.

However, Hwang has also appeared at many Taiwan Solidarity Union (台灣團結聯盟) campaign activities and was named director of the National Association of the Friends of Lee Teng-hui (李友會) last Thursday.