A legislative committee yesterday failed to reach a consensus on absentee voting for the presidential election but agreed to leave the presidential candidates' birthplace out of the election bulletin.
The Home and Nations Committee approved the amendment to Article 44 of the President and Vice President Election and Recall Law (
The article states that the Central Election Commission must print personal information about the presidential and vice presidential candidates on the election bulletin, including their place of birth. Chu proposed that birthplace be left out.
Democratic Progressive Party DPP Legislator Kuo Jeng-liang (郭正亮) dismissed the legal revision as a "a clumsy denial resulting in self-exposure," adding he had forgotten that former KMT chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was born in Hong Kong until he saw Chu's proposal.
DPP legislative whip Wang Sing-nan (
Wang threatened to stage a boycott if the KMT insisted on putting it to a vote.
DPP Legislator Kao Chien-chih (
Chu said if the DPP was so keen on holding a referendum on the KMT's assets then it should also hold a referendum on President Chen Shui-bian's (
KMT Legislator Her Jyh-huei (
Also shelved was an amendment to Article 70 proposed by People First Party (PFP) Legislator Wu Ching-chih (
Wu proposed that the president and vice president could be subject to a recall if they failed to serve less than one year of their term.
Committee members failed to come to an agreement on absentee voting and resolved to discuss the issue at a future date. They requested that the Central Election Commission map out a concrete plan before the end of August.
KMT Legislator Su Chi (
The committee also agreed to send the amendments proposed by KMT Legislator Wu Den-yi (
Cross-party negotiations, however, must be requested to seek a consensus before the amendments proceed to a full-house meeting.
Wu and Shen had said that an administrative vote recount should be held if a candidate wins the presidential election by less than a 1 percent margin.
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