In an unprecedented ruling, the Executive Yuan yesterday announced its decision to overrule Taipei City Government's postponement of the borough-warden elections.
"Taipei City Government's reason to postpone the election -- the redrawing of Taipei's borough boundaries -- can't be counted as a special circumstance to postpone the election. The decision seriously compromises the voting rights of the city's citizens."
"We decided to take the Ministry of the Interior's advice and overrule the city government's decision," said Cabinet spokesman Chuang Suo-hang (
Chuang explained that there are three main reasons that the Executive Yuan overruled the city government's decision.
The Executive Yuan noted that the postponement of the elections violated both Article 83 of the Law on Local Government Systems and Interpretation Number 499 of the Council of Grand Justices.
Article 83 states that elections for local officials may be postponed in the event of "special circumstances," a term which is not defined, but which the Ministry of Interior contends refers to disasters or to the scheduling of multiple elections within a short time of one another, in which case they can be rescheduled to be held on the same date
Under Interpretation Number 499 of the Council of Grand Justices, candidates' terms of office are part of the democratic contract between themselves and voters, which means that elections should be held on time.
The Cabinet also believes that the city government's proposed redrawing of the borough boundaries hasn't been adequately explained.
"The city government's proposal for redrawing the borough boundaries has to be passed by the city council. There is no clear answer on whether the council would pass the proposal and when it would pass it. Using such uncertain reasons to postpone the election just seriously compromises the citizens' voting rights," Chuang said.
Following the Executive Yuan's decision, the Taipei City Government held another press conference and officially announced its decision to apply for an interpretation by the Council of the Grand Justices on Article 83 of the Law on Local Government Systems.
"We respect but regret the Executive Yuan's decision. We have to protect the rights of 180,000 Taipei citizens who have suffered under disproportionate resources for such a long time. We can't allow the situation to continue for another four years," said Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who says the plan to redraw borough boundaries is an attempt to eradicate major disparities between the financial resources of the city's boroughs.
"We are going to apply for a interpretation by the Council of the Grand Justices, and we hope that the matter will then be solved," Ma said.
The Taipei City Council Autonomous Regulation Governing the Taipei City Borough Organization, passed in April, postpones the elections -- originally scheduled for June 8 -- until Taipei's borough boundaries have been redrawn.
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