Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei mayoral candidate Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday called on his opponent, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), to be honest about whether he had broken laws that prohibit publicly citing opinion polls in the run-up to Saturday’s elections.
Su said that if Hau mentioned specific numbers in his talk on Saturday, he likely violated the electoral code and Su called on government agencies to handle the matter in accordance with the law.
Article 53 of the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) stipulates that political parties and individuals cannot make public any opinion poll in any form concerning the candidate or election 10 days before the poll. Nor can they report, distribute, comment or cite the information. Violators are subject to a fine of between NT$500,000 (US$16,500) and NT$5 million.
Hau allegedly cited a poll and mentioned the gap between him and Su in a bid to encourage supporters to come out and vote for him. Hau made the remarks in a talk he gave on Saturday to mark the 116th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in Taipei. He later explained that he did not cite any specific numbers and therefore did not violate the electoral code.
Su urged Hau to be honest about what he had said. If Hau broke the law, Su said, he should be dealt with in a speedy manner, but if Hau was innocent, he should be cleared.
Su said he hoped to see political parties establish an election culture that was equal, orderly and that conformed to the standards of mature democracies.
Kao Pao-hua (高寶華), director of Taipei County’s Bureau of Labor Affairs, also set off debate among observers by making similar comments when he gave a speech on behalf of KMT Sinbei City mayoral candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) on Saturday.
After leaving the stage, the remorseful Kao said the numbers just jumped out of his mouth because the only thing he could think of was the results of the latest opinion poll.
Representatives of both the Taipei City and the Sinbei City election commissions said that if they received complaints, they would submit a report for discussion at the supervisory task force.
In an explanation on Saturday night, Hau said he did not refer to any absolute opinion poll numbers and that he did not think he had violated the regulations of the recall and election law. He said he believed the election commission would investigate the issue, and that he would respect their -decision, -regardless of the outcome.
Huang Hsi-ming (黃細明), deputy secretary-general of the Taipei City Election Commission, said Hau had not explicitly mentioned any absolute poll numbers, and that the issue therefore touched on a legal gray area, leaving room for interpretation. Huang said that according to what he had been told about Hau’s comments, Hau had mentioned the difference between candidates in terms of percentage points, but he had not mentioned any absolute poll numbers, which implies that he was not trying to publicize an opinion poll. If members of the public file a complaint providing substantive evidence, that would be included in today’s discussion at the supervisory task force, Huang said.
Meanwhile, Central Election Commission (CEC) Secretary--General Teng Tien-yu (鄧天祐) said the Taipei City Election Commission had launched a probe into whether Hau had violated the law, adding that it would wait for the result of the Taipei City Election Commission’s investigation before deciding what to do next.
Furthermore, Teng said the CEC would begin an investigation into whether President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) broke the election law by openly calling for voters to not vote for independent Greater Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Yang Chiu-hsiang (楊秋興) and instead support KMT nominee Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順), once it receives a formal compliant from anyone.
The law prohibits remarks directly aimed at causing someone to fail in an election.
Additional reporting by Chen Ching-min, Lin Shu-hui, Lin Hsiang-mei, Ho Yu-hua, and Loa Iok-sin
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