Minister of Justice Lo Ying-shay (羅瑩雪) yesterday defended the Supreme Court’s decision to reject an appeal against a “not guilty” ruling in the case of those accused of “ballot flashing” — showing who they have voted for in a supposedly secret ballot — in the 2010 Kaohsiung council speaker and deputy speaker elections, and said that if the public is concerned that the outcome might lead to more incidents of vote buying then the matter should be resolved by amending election laws.
Lo was referring to the Supreme Court’s decision on Tuesday to reject an extraordinary appeal filed by Prosecutor-General Yen Ta-ho (顏大和) that the case be reopened.
“There have been different interpretations in the past, but now this decision by the Supreme Court provides the basis to set a standard on this issue. Prosecutors will take the decision into account and abide by its adjudication,” Lo said during a handover ceremony between outgoing and incoming officials at various Ministry of Justice (MOJ) agencies.
Photo: CNA
“The concern has been raised that the acquittal over this case of ballot flashing will enable vote buying. This is a legal matter. If people see the outcome as inappropriate, then we may need to go through the law amendment process to deal with this issue,” she said.
She said the decision would not directly result in more cases of vote buying for speaker and deputy speaker posts at city and county-level councilors’ elections.
“It is uncertain if these cases will become more prevalent in the future. We will continue to monitor developments,” she said.
The outcome was based on the interpretation that ballot flashing at council election for speaker and deputy speaker does not constitute “divulging secrets” since a councilor’s vote is an individual matter and it does not concern “secrets of the government.”
Since judicial decisions by the Supreme Court are seen as establishing precedents for trial cases in lower courts, legal experts said it could mean acquittals for councilors charged in similar cases.
It means that the court’s decision might also mean charges are dropped against Kaohsiung City councilors Hsiao Jung-ta (蕭永達), Huang Shih-lung (黃石龍), and seven other Kaohsiung City councilors who are also accused of ballot flashing in 2010.
Although the practice of “ballot flashing” arose from the desire of party whips to enforce discipline in close elections for speaker and deputy speaker, in a number of cases the candidates are suspected of buying off councilors, allegedly offering millions of New Taiwan dollars in reward for favorable votes.
The decision was reached on Tuesday during a Criminal Divisions Conference at the Supreme Court, which was attended by 43 court judges — a high participation rate in recent years.
Analysts said that prosecutors are now expected to drop charges against councilors in the nine cases of ballot flashing at council speaker and deputy speaker elections, with cases pending in Taipei, New Taipei City, Kaohsiung and other cities and counties.
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
RSS