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DPP will not declare emergency

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) blasted the pan-blue alliance's calls for the implementation of a state of emergency yesterday, saying that there was absolutely no justification for curbing the liberties and civil rights of the people.

The pan-greens said that the situation would be better resolved by revising the election law to allow a recount.

DPP Secretary-General Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) yesterday said the party is open to all legal means to address the pan-blue alliance's calls for recounting the ballots, but the blue camp has obdurately rejected the legislation of the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Law (總統副總統選舉罷免法) in order to provide a legal basis for recounting the votes.

The revision of the law stipulates that if the margin of victory in a presidential election is less than 1 percent, either candidate could apply to the Central Election Committee within seven days of the election for a recount of the ballots.

The DPP yesterday convened its first Central Standing Committee meeting in the wake of the election and dismissed Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng's (王金平) proposal asking the president to issue an "emergency decree" in order to hold an immediate recount of the election ballots and to solve the assassination attempt aimed at President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).

Chang said it was not necessary to issue an emergency decree, which would result in serious consequences and limit the people's civil rights and liberties.

"Taiwan has come a long way after experiencing the Martial Law period, undergoing a peaceful transfer of political power and becoming the democratic society it is today. Whether the current situation qualifies for the issuing of an emergency decree is still questionable, but issuing an emergency decree will have a serious impact on a democratic society, and limit people's rights and liberties in many ways," Chang said yesterday.

Chang said Chen had said before the election that he wouldn't issue an emergency decree after he was shot and despite some pan-blue politicians starting rumors of possible riots.

"In our pursuit of democracy, how could we lightly make a decision about announcing an emergency decree to limit people's rights and liberty? We don't understand why the pan-blue alliance would have such an idea," Chang said.

Chang emphasized the party's legislative caucus has proposed revisions to the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Law (總統副總統選舉罷免法) to allow the administrative department to recount the ballots.

He said the revision of the law could have been completed yesterday if the opposition lawmakers cooperate with the legislation which could enable a quick solution to count the ballots.

Meanwhile, amid the blue camp's accusation that the DPP had rigged the vote results, Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), a member of the standing committee, yesterday said "if the KMT has doubts about the vote-rigging, it could file lawsuits and present evidence to indicate which vote boxes needed to be re-examined. However, why has the KMT hesitated to file the lawsuit?"
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