Hualien County prosecutors yesterday searched offices and questioned 11 people in relation to accusations that the county government illegally sent representatives to people’s homes to verify their identity on a recall petition.
The controversy arose last month when a Hualien County resident said that a woman who claimed to be from the Hualien City Household Registration Office asked about her information on a recall petition.
The Hualien District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday said it had opened an investigation after receiving evidence reported to the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office last month.
Photo: Wang Chin-yi, Taipei Times
The office said it ordered the Investigation Bureau’s Hualien authorities to inquire about relevant documents from the Hualien County Election Commission and question personnel.
It said it came to the conclusion that Hualien County Civil Affairs Department Director Ming Liang-chen (明良臻) and other officials involved knew that verifying recall petitioners’ identities falls under the authority of local election commissions.
However, the commission did not entrust the Hualien City Household Registration Office to verify recall petitioners’ signatures, the office said.
Therefore, Ming and the other defendants allegedly misused personal data from the register of recall petitioners, while the household registration office was verifying petitioners’ household information as ordered by the commission, it said.
They are suspected of contravening articles 16, 41 and 44 of the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法), the office added.
Prosecutors yesterday ordered the Hualien County Investigation Station to search the county’s Civil Affairs Department and the household registration office to obtain evidence, it said, adding that prosecutors would continue to investigate neutrally and objectively.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday in a statement condemned the governing party for using judicial power to bar local election commissions from verifying recall petitioners’ identities as required by law.
According to Article 79 of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), local election commissions should verify recall petitioners’ identities, including their name, ID and whether their signature is authentic, the KMT said, adding that verifying such information with petitioners in person is not prohibited by the act.
Given that the prosecutors’ office is interfering with the county government’s administration, concern has been raised over whether the Democratic Progressive Party is preparing to forge signatures in second-stage recall petitions and threatening local election commissions not to verify the signatures, the KMT said.
That would undermine the executive branch’s power to exercise its public authority and the nation’s legal system, it said, calling on the government not to bar public servants from enforcing the law to protect civil rights.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency as well as long-term residency in Taiwan has decreased, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that the reduction of Chinese spouses staying or living in Taiwan is only one facet reflecting the general decrease in the number of people willing to get married in Taiwan. The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency last year was 7,123, down by 2,931, or 29.15 percent, from the previous year. The same census showed that the number of Chinese spouses applying for long-term residency and receiving approval last year stood at 2,973, down 1,520,
RSS