Saying that their right to secret voting is not properly protected, a group of Aboriginal voters yesterday staged a demonstration outside the Council of Indigenous Peoples (CIP), asking it to help negotiate for a better system.
“CIP please help out! Give us back the right to secret voting,” dozens of demonstrators mobilized by Kumu Hacio, an independent candidate for the mountain Aborigine seat on the Greater Tainan City Council shouted as they stood outside the council.
CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT
“The secret ballot is a right granted to everyone by the Constitution, but many Aboriginal voters do not enjoy the right because there are many polling stations with less than three Aboriginal voters casting their ballots in an election,” Kumu said.
Citing herself as an example, Kumu said that when she voted in the 2008 legislative election, there were only two registered Aboriginal voters at her polling station in Syuejia Township (學甲), Tainan County.
“As soon as I arrived at the polling station, staffers greeted me by saying that they had been waiting for me for a long time,” Kumu said. “In that case, it’s actually not hard to guess for whom I voted.”
Under the Election and Recall Act for Public Servants (公職人員選舉罷免法), Aboriginal voters vote separately for lawmakers or councilors representing Aboriginal constituents.
Kumu went on to say that as many as 80 percent of polling stations in Tainan and Tainan County have less than three Aborigines, so many Aboriginal voters do not vote to avoid being identified.
Kumu petitioned the Central Election Commission (CEC) last month, and the commission agreed to shrink the number of polling stations for Aborigines from 600 to 450 in Greater Tainan. However, the change still leaves 66 percent of all polling stations in Greater Tainan with less than three Aboriginal voters.
“We’re petitioning to the CIP because this is not just an issue for Aboriginal voters in Tainan, but for all Aboriginal voters in metropolitan areas,” Kumu said. “So the council should negotiate with the CEC to see what they can do nationwide.”
PROMISES
CIP Chief Secretary Chen Cheng-chia (陳成家) received the demonstrators, and promised to talk to the CEC about it.
“We really can’t make any promises because we’re not in charge of holding elections, but as the highest administrative body representing Aborigines, we will talk to the CEC about the issue,” Chen said.
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