Scholars rail against election ban on students

He argued that the election rules, drawn during the martial-law era, are obsolete now that so many students and intellectuals support one party or another.

The fairness of the ban has also been called into question because it does not include schools overseas.

DPP Taipei City Councilor Yen Sheng-kuan (顏聖冠), who studied at a US-based law school, was not asked to give up her identity as student when registering her candidacy in 1998.

Yang Yu-ling (楊與齡), a former grand justice, said he agrees the election rules should be relaxed but expressed reservations about a full-scale liberalization.

He said that as a student in China, he was asked by his professor to help solicit votes and ignored his schoolwork for a while.

"Campus stability is key to social order," Yang said. "Countries where students are enthusiastic about political movements are prone to riots."