Spoiled ballots off the agenda

Officials of the ruling DPP said yesterday that there would be no investigation into the alleged spoiling of ballots in Friday's election for vice speaker and that no punishments in this regard would be meted out.

The DPP has been licking its wounds since its defeat in the election for the vice-speakership on Friday.

Three of four invalid ballots during the first round of the vote are suspected to have been deliberately spoiled by DPP legislators, according to Chinese-language media.

Lawrence Kao (高志鵬), a DPP legislator and a member of the party's Central Standing Committee, said that there were at least two members in the first round and one in the second round whose votes were rendered invalid.

The party's candidate was Hong Chi-chang (洪奇昌).

Kao said that the caucus should quickly investigate and added that he would urge the Central Standing Committee at its meeting today to take up the matter.

Hong won 108 votes in the first round but secured only 106 in the second, in which he was defeated by the KMT's Chiang Ping-Kun (江丙坤) by nine votes.

Officials from the party's caucus and headquarters said that no investigation or disciplinary measures will be carried out.

"None of our members failed to vote for our candidate," said Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯), a DPP legislator who campaigned for Hong.

"The party's caucus won't address this issue," Tsai added.

DPP Secretary-General Wu Nai-jen (吳乃仁) also said that party headquarters will not address the issue, unless the legislative caucus asks it to do so.

One of the party's caucus chiefs, Hsu Jung-shu (許榮淑), argued that the DPP should not dwell on the election, since apportioning blame would jeopardize the party's unity and image.

"It is wrong to accuse members for the defeat. Rather, we should punish those members who spread such rumors," Hsu said.

In Friday's election, two legislators flouted a party order to show their ballots. One of these was Chiu Chang (邱彰), who refused to show her ballot, prompting a row with her colleague, Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩).

Chiu Chang said in a press release yesterday that the party should not blame members for Friday's defeat, "especially when it doesn't have any evidence to prove those accusations."

Tsai Huang-liang, another of the party's caucus chiefs, though, said that the caucus would discipline Chiu Chang over her argument with Chiu Yi-ying, which, he said, had "weakened party morale."

Meanwhile, KMT Secretary-General Lin Fong-cheng (林豐正) yesterday accused the DPP of vote-buying in the election, as he responded to rumors that the KMT paid as much as NT$5 million to encourage members of the pan-green camp to cast invalid ballots.

Tsai Huang-liang denied the accusation and said that none of the party's members received any money.