Pan-blue camp lawyers yesterday conceded that the vote recount would not give them victory, but hoped that the courts would call new polls because of fraud they claim was committed as part of President Chen Shui-bian's (
Chen beat Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
Lien said the shooting may have been staged to win sympathy votes and has filed two lawsuits to overturn Chen's victory and seek a new election.
"We have absolute confidence in the job we are doing and we will let the numbers speak for themselves and let the court make a final decision," pan-blue lawyer Lee Tsung-teh (
The lawyers said a vote recount completed in May had narrowed the difference to 21,863, with 40,327 disputed ballots awaiting a final ruling by the High Court, expected by September.
The High Court has called lawyers from both sides to a meeting this Monday to discuss the lawsuit seeking to nullify Chen's victory, and to set a hearing for the second suit, which seeks a new poll, for next Friday.
The opposition lawyers said that the disputed votes alone would not be enough to reverse the outcome, but added that they had found nearly 20,000 ballots that did not match voter registration lists, suggesting fraud.
"There were what we classified as ghost ballots, lost ballots and stolen ballots," lawyer Jaclyn Tsai told a news conference.
In many cases, the number of votes cast exceeded the number of eligible voters, the lawyers said. They said that various other irregularities had been found in 99 percent of voting booths.
"People should be able to trust the outcome of the election. But so many things went wrong in this election," Tsai said.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said the recount has not found signs of vote-rigging and that the outcome would not be reversed.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
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