The election recount was completed yesterday, two days earlier than scheduled, when the Panchiao District Court finished its review of the presidential election ballots.
The Panchiao court was the last of the 20 district courts to finish the recount, due to the huge number of ballots it had to review. Panchiao had the greatest number of voters in a single constituency.
The Penghu District Court also finished a review of voters' name lists yesterday that had been requested by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-People First Party (PFP) alliance.
"The Taiwan High Court will allow the alliance's legal representatives to apply to review and check certain voters' name lists in those constituencies where human errors were discovered during the recount," said Hsu Chang-jin (
"Some of these reviews have been carried out since Monday," Hsu said.
As for the recount process itself, several common errors were found. Recount workers in Penghu discovered that 150 voters' personal chops, which are regarded as signatures, did not match the printed names on the list of registered voters.
In Keelung, 39 voters' chops did not match the printed names on the name list. In addition, 217 voters received ballots by inking a fingerprint instead of their name chop. However, no Central Election Commission (CEC) employee signature countersigned the fingerprints, which is considered an error.
In Ilan, the personal chops of 15 voters did not match the printed names on the list of voters and 21 voters left fingerprints when picking up their ballots without a commission worker signing off on the fingerprint.
In Taoyuan, 50 voters provided fingerprints instead of chops, again without a commission countersignature.
Kuo Lin-yung (
"Obtaining a ballot by leaving a fingerprint is legal and totally reasonable," Kuo said. "It cannot be considered cheating."
While the DPP believes that there is no hope that the alliance will be able to overturn the election results, a senior KMT official appeared confident yesterday of doing just that.
KMT Secretary-General Lin Fong-cheng (
"The election is about cheating," Lin said. "The DPP said earlier that it might take a year to accomplish the recount. However, it took less than 10 days."
"With all the evidence of cheating that we discovered during the recount, I am quite confident that we are going to win the suits and overturn the [election] result," Lin added.
Lin said that the alliance has faith in the judicial system because justice is the last defense. He also said the alliance would respect whatever the judges decide.
The next step in the recount process is a hearing for the two sides to debate how to recognize those ballots deemed controversial. The hearing will be held sometime next week, but a date has not yet been set.
The review of voter name lists is scheduled to be completed before June 18.
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
Taiwan’s armed forces have established response protocols for a wide range of sudden contingencies, including the “Wan Chun Plan” to protect the head of state, the Ministry of Defense (MND) said today. After US President Donald Trump on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, concerns have been raised as to whether China would launch a similar “decapitation strike” on Taiwan. The armed forces regularly coordinate with relevant agencies and practice drills to ensure preparedness for a wide range of scenarios, Vice Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) told reporters before a
EVA Airways on Saturday said that it had suspended a pilot and opened an investigation after he allegedly lost his temper and punched the first officer several times as their plane was taxiing before takeoff at Los Angeles International Airport. According to a report published on Thursday by The Reporter, the incident occurred after the flight’s Malaysian first officer tried to warn the Taiwanese pilot, surnamed Wen (文), that he was taxiing faster than the speed limit of 30 knots (55.6kph). After alerting the pilot several times without response, the first officer manually applied the brakes in accordance with standard operating
The New Taipei City Social Welfare Department on Thursday celebrated Paralympic competitor Chen Tzu-wei (張孜維), who received last year’s national Golden Eagle award for exemplary achievement by Taiwanese with disabilities. Chen, who suffers from childhood-onset muscular dystrophy, did not attend the first award ceremony held by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in November due to illness. Chen was formally presented with the award at the department, where he gave thanks to government workers for supporting his education and livelihood, the department said in a statement. Chen was raised by the Ai-hsin Home for Persons with Disabilities in the city’s Bali District (八里)
RSS