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Pan-blue alliance looking to buy non-votes, ad says

In a bid to ensure that no ballots had been cast by people posing as someone else, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-People First Party (PFP) alliance yesterday posted a full page ad in several major local Chinese-language newspapers asking anyone from among the 3 million eligible voters who did not vote in the March 20 presidential election to provide the alliance with copies of their identification cards.

In return, those who provide the alliance with copies of their ID cards will receive a payment of NT$200, and would in addition be eligible for a cash reward of NT$3,000 if it is later ascertained "after thorough checks" that the individual's ballot had been cast by an impostor.

In the ad, the alliance also called on anyone who had witnessed any sign of "voting irregularities" on the day of the election or been ordered by others to vote a certain way to bring their cases to the alliance. Those who are willing to come forth and "testify" will be rewarded with a cash prize of NT$20,000 from the alliance, said the ad.

"If someone tells us that he didn't vote, yet his name then later turns up on the electoral rosters [showing that he had voted in the election] during the recount, then we know there is a problem," KMT Secretary-General Lin Fong-cheng (林豐正) said yesterday.

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) defeated KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) in the March 20 presidential election by a razor-thin margin of less than 30,000 votes.

Lien refused to concede defeat in the election and claimed that he lost as a result of "voting irregularities" -- although he has yet to produce any evidence -- and has filed a lawsuit demanding a recount. Lien has also appealed to the Taiwan High Court to invalidate Chen's victory and to declare the election void.

The recount is slated to begin on May 10 and be finished within 10 days.

The alliance's ad has drawn criticism from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), who said such actions would not only delay the recount process, but was also a blatant attempt to expose individuals' voting preferences.

Saying that it was an easy matter to forge a copy of an identification card, the DPP criticized the alliance for its inane posturing and creating unnecessary disputes regarding the recount.

On Thursday, Soong claimed that, "if the recount is done under full authority [without outside interference], the recount would then be 100 percent guaranteed to produce a favorable result for the pan-blue alliance."

Saying that the election is not yet over, Lin yesterday echoed Soong's remarks, saying that he was absolutely confident that the recount would end in the alliance's favor if the recount process is taken under "no outside interference."

It was not immediately clear what the pan-blue officials meant by "interference."

Lin, after taking a leave of absence for the past three days, yesterday returned to his post following an ultimatum from Lien on Wednesday.

Lin and others had come under heavy fire from some members of the party's Central Standing Committee during this past week, as they repeatedly called for Lin to resign and take responsibility for Lien and Soong's poor election showing.

The calls for their resignation seemingly came to a halt after Lien on Tuesday called for "party unity," and said that his top aides are to remain in their posts until the dispute over the presidential election has been "settled."
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