Mon, Apr 08, 2002 page2

• Official defends electoral-delay plan

  POLITICS DPP leaders say the move to delay Taipei borough-warden elections is illegal and a ploy by the city council's KMT majority to use its lame duck officials to re-elect Taipei's KMT Mayor Ma Ying-jeou

  • By Sandy Huang / STAFF REPORTER
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  A Taipei City official yesterday defended the legitimacy of postponing the Taipei borough-warden elections after critics charged that the delay violates the Public Officials Election and Recall Law (選罷法) and is a ploy to benefit Mayor Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) re-election effort.

  "The postponement of the borough-warden elections is not illegitimate and is not a violation of the Constitution," Lin Cheng-hsiu (林正修), director of the Bureau of Civil Affairs, said yesterday.

  Last Wednesday, the Taipei City Council's KMT majority pushed through the third reading of an amendment to the Autonomous Regulation Governing the Taipei City Borough Organization. The amendment calls for a postponement of the elections -- originally scheduled to be held on June 8 -- until the reshuffling of the boroughs are finalized.

  

  Pong Tien-hao, who intends to run in the next election for the Taipei City Council, held a press conference yesterday to declare that postponing the borough-warden elections violates the Public Officials Election and Recall Law. He demanded that the Cabinet immediately nullify the plan.

  PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES

  According to Lin, at least 100 boroughs will be affected by the amendment. The amendment also calls for the establishment of approximately 444 boroughs in Taipei City. There are now 435.

  Referring to Article 42 of the Public Officials Election and Recall Law, Pong Tien-hao (彭天豪), a DPP-registered candidate for the end-of-the-year Taipei City councilor elections, argued yesterday that such a postponement is not constitutional.

  "The Constitution states that public officials ought to be informed of any alteration to election plans at least one year prior to the expiration of their terms," Pong said yesterday.

  "Judging from the fact that there is now less than three months before the warden's term is up, the Taipei City Government has no constitutional right to reshuffle the borough organization system."

  In response, Lin said that Pong's referral to the article was incorrect.

  "The post of borough warden is not among the public officials included under Article 42," Lin said.

  "In a relevant article the document states that changes to borough-warden-election rules only need to be publicized within half year before the election takes place."

  Speaking about a possible date for the borough-warden election, Lin said he hopes the election will be held in January next year, "in time to tie in with the city government's annual budget appropriation."

  Lin added that the amendment has long been needed to reorganize the city's boroughs.

  Despite Taipei City's official denials the timing of the amendment has led some to suspect that it was aimed at aiding Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) chances of getting re-elected in the end-of-the-year elections.

  According to Lan Shih-tsung (藍世聰), director of the DPP's Taipei chapter, nearly 370 of the current 435 Taipei borough wardens are KMT party members.

  "By postponing the borough-warden elections until next year, the KMT is playing to its own advantage by putting pressure on KMT wardens to round up support for Ma's end-of-the-year election bid," Lan was quoted as saying.

  "It puts pressure on the wardens because it means that those who fail to give enough campaigning support will most likely face demotion on the list of warden candidates -- or may have their own campaign budgets cut dramatically by the party."
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