The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday rejected an application by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Greater Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) for a provisional injunction against the Kaohsiung Election Commission’s electoral bulletin.
INSUFFICIENT
In announcing its decision, the court said Huang’s argument for the injunction asking the commission to suspend the printing of the bulletin was “insufficient.”
Huang on Monday filed for a provisional injunction after the commission agreed to allow independent Kaohsiung City councilor candidate Yang Tung-yi (楊統一) to list in the bulletin “support [Kaohsiung County Commissioner] Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興) in the [Greater Kaohsiung] mayoral election” and “abandon Huang and support Yang (棄黃保楊)” as part of his campaign platform.
Yang Tung-yi has argued that his slogan “abandon Huang and support Yang” was a call for voters to support him instead of Huang Chao-hsing (黃昭星) — another candidate in the race for city councilor.
Huang Chao-shun did not accept that explanation, however. She said in the request for an injunction that Yang Tung-yi’s action and the commission’s decision had damaged her reputation and that the slogan was a violation of the Election and Recall Act for Public Servants (公職人員選舉罷免法).
APPEALING
This was the first time ever that a candidate had filed for an injunction against an official electoral bulletin.
Huang Chao-shun said she would appeal the ruling.
There has been speculation that the KMT could abandon its Greater Kaohsiung mayoral candidate and support Yang Chiu-hsing after a number of surveys showed Huang Chao-shun lagging behind Democratic Progressive Party candidate Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) and Yang Chiu-hsing.
The latest opinion poll by TVBS cable channel yesterday showed that 43 percent of respondents supported Chen, while Yang Chiu-hsing’s support rate rose 5 percentage points to 26 percent. Huang Chao-shun’s approval rating, meanwhile, dropped from 18 percent to 16 percent.
The survey also found that 43 percent of respondents who identified themselves as pan-blue supporters now supported Yang Chiu-hsing after People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) appeared at Yang’s rally on Oct. 17. This represented an increase of 12 percentage points in Yang Chiu-hsing’s approval rating.
In contrast, the number of pan-blue respondents supporting Huang Chao-shun dropped from 49 percent to 40 percent after Soong’s public endorsement of the commissioner.
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