The new chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC), Chang Cheng-hsiung (張政雄), said yesterday at his inauguration that the commission is facing many challenges.
"As democracy is further taking root in our society by the day, all political parties and the public become more aware and concerned about every single election that is being held, which elevates the expectations that others have for the CEC," said Chang at his inauguration ceremony.
Chang added that as the holding of referendums has been newly added to commission's responsibilities, the CEC will have to go through more trials in the future.
"The commission will exercise its determination and patience to build an efficient team. Furthermore, we will do it with impartiality, openness and fairness, to study the pitfalls of election affairs in the past and to improve our accuracy performance in the future," said Chang.
Chang also said that he hoped the Legislative Yuan would amend the Referendum Law (公投法) to make the commission the management authority for referendums.
In response to People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong's (宋楚瑜) previous claim that Chang's appointed chairmanship was a move in preparation for President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) re-election, Chang said that he did not support anyone in particular.
"The matter of a possible re-election involves a law suit requesting the court to rule that the [presidential and vice-presidential] election was a fraud. I do not want to comment on that, out of my respect for the justice system; however, I do want to say that I do not support anyone in particular. In the future, I will execute my job with impartiality and my performance will fulfill my mission," Chang said.
Chang's appointment by the Cabinet as the head of the CEC has resulted in strong opposition from pan-blue camp as well as the Democratic Action Alliance, who both believe that Chang's pan-green proclivity in the past will cause him to be biased when executing his job.
Yesterday's inauguration ceremony was presided over by Hsu Chih-hsiung (許志雄), Minister of Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission, who praised Chang for his long-term experience in law.
"Chang has been an attorney-at-law for 37 years and his name is renowned in the field, especially in the area of human rights. Chang's deep belief in democracy was illustrated when he served as court martial defense counsel for the defendants arrested during the 1979 Kaohsiung Incident (
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching