The wife of Lee E-tin (李乙廷) was tapped by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to run in the legislative by-election in Miaoli County in March after Lee’s status was invalidated last month because of vote-buying.
Lee Jin-song (李錦松), director of the KMT’s Miaoli County chapter, said KMT headquarters would likely approve the nomination of Chen Luan-ing (陳鑾英) on Wednesday following the chapter’s recommendation.
LOSS
Lee was elected as a first-term lawmaker on Jan. 12 last year, but lost the seat on Dec. 10 when the Taiwan High Court’s Taichung branch rejected his appeal against a May 28 Miaoli District Court ruling that had annulled his election on vote-buying charges.
Lee was the first member of the current legislature to lose his seat. The loss is not expected to have much of an impact on the lawmaking body, where the KMT and its allies hold nearly three-fourths of the seats.
Lee, a former secretary-general of the Miaoli County Farmers’ Association, garnered 64,817 votes in the Jan. 12 election against 46,905 votes for two-term legislator Tu Wen-ching (杜文卿) of the Democratic Progressive Party.
Tu filed a civil suit seeking the invalidation of Lee’s election.
BY-ELECTION
As Lee’s remaining term in office exceeds one year, under the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選罷法) the Central Election Commission (CEC) must hold a by-election within three months of the court verdict.
The by-election is scheduled for March 14. The Miaoli County Government had initially suggested that the by-election be held on March 7, but with six national civil service exams taking place that day, CEC commissioners chose to hold it a week later.
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