Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday finalized a plan to hold a Central Standing Committee (CSC) by-election next month, calling on members who resigned to help the KMT’s image by shunning bribery in the fresh poll.
“The by-election is being held to protect the CSC’s image ... The public will watch the by-election process closely, so each candidate’s performance will have a big impact on the KMT,” Ma said at a provisional CSC meeting.
“I know some CSC members have grievances about the by-election, but pushing to reform party elections is a contribution to Taiwan’s democracy and we need to show people that the KMT has changed,” he said.
Twenty-eight of the CSC’s elected members offered their resignations last week over the party’s allegedly selective investigation of certain members for bribery.
Ma said he held a provisional meeting on Thursday after the KMT revoked the election of two CSC members for bribing party delegates.
The meeting concluded that despite the bribery, the CSC poll was fair and legitimate, meaning that a re-election cannot, under party regulations, be held. But Ma said a “by-election” could be held if so many members resigned that it made it impossible for the CSC to convene.
“I am touched by the members who offered their resignation ... but the bribery probe will continue and the KMT will be a responsible party,” he said.
Ma said the party could work with the Democratic Progressive Party to revise the party election regulations in the Election and Recall Law (選舉罷免法).
KMT Secretary-General Chan Chun-po (詹春柏) said strict regulations would be adopted to combat bribery in the new poll and any candidates caught bribing delegates, as well as the delegates, would lose their party membership.
The by-election will be on Nov. 14. Voting will take place in each city and county, but ballots will be counted at six locations.
The KMT had adopted a district voting system for the CSC election, with voting in each city and county, but the system allegedly made it easier for candidates to win control of the vote in their district by means of bribery.
Taipei City Councilor Li Keng Kuei-fang (厲耿桂芳) and Taipei County Council Speaker Chen Hsin-ching (陳幸進), who had both declined to resign, offered their resignation on Sunday and yesterday respectively.
But Chen accused the party of “pressuring” members to resign to hold a by-election.
“I support party reform, but I don’t agree with the procedure to hold a by-election,” he said.
Candidates for the by-election must register by tomorrow. The winners will take up their positions on Nov. 18.
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