The KMT and PFP legislative caucuses yesterday said that they would work to amend the Presi-dential and Vice Presidential Elec-tion and Recall Law (總統副總統選舉罷免法) in order to allowing overseas Taiwanese to cast absentee votes in next March's presidential election.
In the event that the law could not be amended in time for the March 20 election, KMT legislative whip Lee Chia-ching (李嘉進) said the caucuses would demand the government allow cross-strait charter flights so that China-based Taiwanese businesspeople would be able to return home in March to cast their votes.
Lee told a news conference that there are some 1 million registered voters now abroad, including approximate 500,000 businesspeople in China. He said the amendment would be a priority for the two caucuses in the new session.
"We hope our bid to amend the law will be successful [in the next session] in order to safeguard the voting rights of voters abroad and allow them to participate in the 2004 presidential election," said KMT Legislator Lee Chuan-chiao (
Saying that charter flights would ensure the fairness of the election by providing registered voters a convenient way to return home to vote, PFP legislative whip Chung Shao-ho (鍾紹和) urged the government to demonstrate its sincerity in safeguarding voters' basic rights.
DPP legislative whip Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) voiced his opposition to the idea of absentee ballots.
Chen said "the DPP caucus refuses to play the game with the KMT and PFP caucuses," until it could be assured an absentee-ballot system could be guaranteed free of vote-buying and that absentee voters were marking and mailing their own ballots of their own free will.
Citing Article 2 of the Additional Articles of the Constitution, which states that "overseas nationals may vote in the election for the president and vice president upon returning to the country," Chen said pushing for absentee-ballot system would require a constitutional amendment to delete the words "returning to the country."
Chen called the KMT and PFP caucuses' proposal for election-time charter flights "indulging in their wildest fantasies," and said that elections should not be lumped with direct transportation issues.
Chen also criticized the proposal as a pan-blue camp bid to curry favor ahead of the election.
TSU party whip Cheng Jhen-long (程振隆) yesterday said voting should be a voluntary act, not one influenced by man-made forces. He said the TSU was against the idea of operating charter flights to China to bring businesspeople back to vote.
Cheng said election-time charters could be seen as an attempt to buy votes.
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