Central Election Commission Chairman Chen In-chin (陳英鈐) yesterday said that the commission is politically neutral, after Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators accused it of colluding with local governments to create the false impression that the party forged signatures for its referendum proposals.
The commission has been “treating every referendum proposal by the same standards” and found forged signatures from cities across the nation in proposals, not just those where the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) holds office, Chen said at an Internal Administration Committee meeting.
Shortly before the meeting, a dozen KMT legislators had stormed into the room with placards accusing the commission of colluding with the DPP to thwart a KMT referendum proposal, calling on Chen to step down.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
The KMT delivered 488,125 signatures for a proposal to reduce air pollution initiated by KMT Legislator Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕), but the commission said the number was 497,193, while local governments said it found 77,000 of the signatures might have been forged, KMT caucus secretary-general William Tseng (曾銘宗) said.
Most of the allegedly forged signatures were found in DPP-controlled cities, including Kaohsiung, Taichung and Tainan, Tseng said, adding that local governments had determined they were forged based on a set of guidelines recently announced by the commission.
“This made the party realize it was a set-up by the commission, which has not been politically neutral or independent, as it should be, but is acting like it is a DPP campaign office,” he said.
The KMT will file a lawsuit against the government for breaches of Article 35 of the Referendum Act (公民投票法), which stipulates that those who prevent others from exercising their right to propose or vote in a referendum through illicit means shall be punished by up to five years of prison, Tseng said.
Asked why the commission changed the number of petitions weeks after it received them, Chen said at a question-and-answer session that the initial number was not meant to be precise, but only to ensure the threshold of 281,745 had been reached.
The receipt the commission gave Lu clearly says that the initial number might differ from the final result, which is processed by local household registration offices, Chen said, adding that the KMT had also incorrectly tallied the signatures it collected.
The commission on Sept. 3 convened a cross-departmental meeting to set clear guidelines for determining forged signatures after several local registration offices reported finding many allegedly forged signatures in petitions, Chen said.
At the meeting, commission members and representatives from the National Police Agency, the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau and local governments discussed examples of allegedly forged signatures without focusing on any referendum campaigns, he said.
Staff at local household registration offices verify the name, ID number and address to see whether they are correct, then examine the handwriting and ink of the signature, he said.
“The commission was surprised to find so many signatures by people who were dead,” Chen said, adding that about 2 percent of the signatures from every city and county across the nation were found to belong to people who died before the date they were signed.
The commission would discuss in a meeting today whether to approve the KMT proposal and report the case to prosecutors, as it has a high percentage of allegedly forged signatures, he said.
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