The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday protested what it said was the Central Election Commission’s (CEC) tightening of review regulations for referendum proposals, and accused CEC Chairman Chen In-chin (陳英鈐) of demeaning proposals submitted by the KMT when talking to reporters.
The commission earlier this month published a set of regulations on reviewing the content of referendum proposals, targeting duplicate wording in different proposals.
Chen told a news conference on Monday that 60 percent of the penmanship on three KMT referendum proposals on air pollution is identical, and some signatures gathered during the referendum petition drives were allegedly in the names of dead people.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
The new regulations contain ambiguous language on the creation of “review task forces” at household registration offices, making their implementation troublesome, KMT caucus secretary-general William Tseng (曾銘宗) said.
He also took issue with a regulation stipulating that the people tasked with determining whether there are duplicate signatures on referendum petitions make a judgement based on the shades of ink used, because booths set up by the KMT to gather signatures provided pens for people to use to sign their names.
One regulation stipulates a NT$3 bonus for household registration officers for each petition they rule has been duplicated, which would encourage public servants to scrap people’s referendum proposals, Tseng said.
The KMT caucus condemns Chen’s frequent criticism of the KMT’s referendum proposals to the media, and it is considering suing Chen for slandering the KMT and proponents of its referendums, he said.
Tseng and colleagues Sra Kakaw and Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) later went to the commission and demanded a meeting with Chen, which began at 2pm.
Tseng said he told Chen that as an official whose work requires absolute neutrality, he should be more discreet when speaking to the media.
Chen told his visitors that the commission had often been misquoted by the media.
For example, commission Deputy Chairman Chen Chao-chien (陳朝建) had never said that Friday was the deadline for the KMT to revise its referendum proposals and he had clarified the issue “dozens” of times, but some reporters seemed intent on distributing misleading information, Chen In-chin said.
The commission should promptly issue a statement whenever it is misquoted by media, Tseng said.
Chen In-chin responded by promising to pay special attention to “words put in his mouth.”
Meanwhile, the Democratic Progressive Party caucus said the KMT should apologize to the families of any dead person whose signature it had used on its referendum petitions.
The KMT should publicly release the petitions it gathered so that people could decide whether there was identical handwriting in the signatures, it said.
Public servants should report any suspected forgery to the authorities according to the Referendum Act (公民投票法), it added.
Additional reporting by Su Fun-her
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner