New Power Party (NPP) legislators yesterday asked the Sports Administration to strictly oversee the election of the Chinese Taipei Swimming Association (CTSA) board, following allegations that the association’s management has used nominal members and other ways to manipulate the election.
After an amendment to the National Sports Act (國民體育法) was passed in September last year, sports associations were given six months to revise organizational guidelines, accept applications from individual members and hold board elections.
However, the CTSA’s board elections have come under scrutiny, as sports reform advocates have alleged that they found several new members with the same house or e-mail address.
Photo: Liao Chen-hui, Taipei Times
NPP Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) and swimmer Jason Tang (唐聖捷) told a news conference yesterday that although CTSA chairman Tony Hsu (許東雄) has announced that he is not seeking re-election, he can still exert his influence on the association’s operation.
Members of the CTSA’s ad hoc task force charged with overseeing the board election are all students of Hsu and are from the same youth swimming team, Huang said, adding that this does not meet the principle that election observers should be from an independent third party.
The amendment to the act was passed unanimously, and if the government allows certain people to manipulate board elections, it would defeat the purpose of the amendment and turn sports reform into a joke, he said.
The Sports Administration should address these controversies, he added.
“There should be transparency in the way membership applications are reviewed and board elections held. The public deserves a fair and just board election,” Huang said.
People interested in becoming members of the association still cannot do so, because they have not been notified that they can start paying the membership fee, Tang said, adding that the association’s management has been accused of recruiting nominal members to manipulate board elections.
The association’s management has stipulated when and how the board elections will be conducted, but the procedure it is undertaking lacks transparency and will affect its members, NPP New Taipei City director Chen Chi-ming (陳志明) said, urging the Sports Administration to investigate.
Sports Administration Competitive Athletics Division head Hung Chih-chang (洪志昌) said that the CTSA’s online application system shows signs that it contains nominal members, which the agency would investigate.
People who have not received a notification for membership fee payment can file a complaint with the agency, Hung said.
The agency will also review the qualifications of the CTSA’s members and investigate how the association chose members of the election task force, Hung added.
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