Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) said yesterday she was psychologically prepared to face and deal with the Taiwan High Court's final decision on her appeal against a ruling to annul last December's Kaohsiung mayoral election.
"The final result could be good or bad, but I must accept all possibilities," Chen of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) told the media before a question-and-answer session at Kaohsiung City Council.
"However, I can assure everyone that I have the courage to face all consequences," Chen said.
The Kaohsiung District Court on June 15 ruled in favor of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) mayoral candidate Huang Chun-ying (
The district court annulled the result of the December election, requiring that another election be held.
Chen then filed an appeal to Taiwan High Court's Kaohsiung branch.
Based on the Election and Recall Law of Civil Servants (
The verdict in the second trial is not subject to appeal, and Chen cannot join any by-election if she loses.
Chen said yesterday that her lawyers assured her she was unlikely to lose the appeal, adding that she had faith in the nation's judicial system.
She also admitted that the uncertainty surrounding the case had greatly affected her efforts to push municipal construction in Kaohsiung after assuming office last December.
When fielding questions from Kaohsiung City Councilor Wu Yi-cheng (
Chen was arrested in the anti-government demonstration organized by Formosa Magazine, along with many other democracy activists.
The military court sentenced her to death but she was later freed after being imprisoned from 1980 to 1986.
Chen said she had peace of mind, adding that if she lost the appeal, she would do her best to campaign for any candidate the DPP nominates for the mayoral by-election.
Meanwhile, Tsai Chun-chang (
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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