The People First Party (PFP) appealed to the Supreme Court yesterday after its bid to have last year's presidential election nullified was rejected by the High Court.
The pan-blue alliance alleges that the results of the election were swayed by various electoral scandals, a referendum held on the same day of the election, the activation of a "national security mechanism" that they claim barred a number of police and military servicemen from going to the polls and the election-eve assassination attempt on President Chen Shui-bian (
Court Ruling
The Taiwan High Court ruled on Dec. 30 that the claims made by the two plaintiffs -- Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) -- could not stand up in court.
A legal team led by Lee Tzung-teh (
Plaintiff's Complaint
According to Lee, the High Court unlawfully turned down the plaintiffs' requests to review the electoral rolls and to obtain audio CDs recording the court hearings.
Lee accused the High Court of taking unlawful command of the lawsuit and failing in its duty by not making a judgment on whether it was lawful for the Central Election Commission to hold the referendum simultaneously with the presidential election.
Lee said the High Court also rejected evidence put forth by the plaintiffs that the secrecy of the vote was compromised because the referendum was held alongside the election, but did not provide any rationale for its decision.
Lee said those points were only a few of the numerous irregularities in the case and that it is inconceivable that such an important judicial case was processed so sloppily.
Commenting on the development, the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) incoming chairman, Su Tseng-chang (
DPP Reaction
Su also urged the two parties to respect the court's judgment and the judicial system.
Incoming DPP Secretary-General Lee Yi-yang (
Lee said he hopes the KMT and PFP will accept the final result by the Supreme Court in order to put an end to partisan confrontation and meet public expectations for political reconciliation.
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