President Chen Shui-bian (
"Had it known it would make such a decision, it should not have opposed it [the voting procedure] in the first place," Chen said.
Chen said there had always only been one voting format, which was the one-step announced by the Central Election Commission (CEC).
Under the one-step voting procedure, voters will receive two ballots for the legislative elections and two referendum ballots upon entering the polling station and then cast them into four different boxes.
The KMT, however, had insisted on using a two-step voting system, under which voters would first cast their legislative election ballots before picking up the referendum ballots.
In an attempt to put an end to the political wrangling, CEC Chairman Chang Cheng-hsiung (張政雄) said on Thursday that it would allow voters to follow the two-step voting procedure as long as local commissions set up polling stations in line with the setup used in the one-step voting format.
Although the KMT initially rejected the idea, it reversed its decision following a meeting between the KMT and pan-blue local government heads.
The KMT claimed that local government heads had agreed to accept the compromise to end the dispute, which had caused turmoil and confusion among front-line election personnel.
Despite the criticism, Chen yesterday said he was grateful the KMT was willing to end the dispute, as it had engendered much controversy in the past month.
Chen made the remarks yesterday morning while campaigning for Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative candidate Chien Chao-tung (簡肇棟) in Taichung County.
Meanwhile, Cabinet Secretary-General Chen Chin-jun (陳景峻) yesterday said the KMT should apologize to the public for causing so much trouble over the past month, despite its recent change of heart.
Chen Chin-jun said it was a victory for the people because more than 70 percent of the public surveyed in a recent poll said they supported the one-step system.
The Cabinet would continue to monitor the attitude of local election commissions and will "remove all obstructions" if they fail to abide by the CEC decision, he said.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s
RSS