Central Election Commission (CEC) Chairman Lee Chin-yung (李進勇) yesterday said he is confident in the transparency and openness of the ballot-counting process for Saturday’s elections, vowing to resign if any court finds cheating or fraud in the vote tabulation.
After all tallies were counted on Saturday night, losing candidates conceded defeat and congratulated the winners, which “are the marks of Taiwan’s democracy, and the good manners of the politicians,” Lee said.
However, he said it was regrettable that some people were disseminating false information about the vote-counting process and “smearing the diligent work by more than 240,000 election staff at polling stations.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
People who believe fraud occurred in the tallying of ballots can dispute the outcome of the elections through the legal system, and if a court finds fraud, he and Vice Chairman Chen Chao-chien (陳朝建) would resign, he said.
Monitors from political parties and media are present when votes are counted, as well as police officers, Lee said.
“Accusations of fraud harm Taiwan’s democracy, and tarnishing the election workers who are not associated with political parties,” he said.
“I have 100 percent confidence in the integrity and honesty of election workers... The election outcome has been announced, and winners and losers have accepted the choice made by voters,” he said.
In other election news, two suspects, including a borough warden in Pingtung County, were indicted yesterday by prosecutors for buying signatures for Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) in his bid to qualify for the presidential ballot.
The warden, identified by his surname, Chiu (邱), allegedly paid his wife, surnamed Chang (張), and a man surnamed Wu (吳) NT$200 apiece for their signatures late last year, the Pingtung District Prosecutors’ Office said in a news release.
Chiu allegedly also asked Wu to help him with the petition drive, and the pair subsequently found four more people, identified by the surnames Chou (周), Yang (楊), Tsai (蔡) and Yeh (葉), to help, prosecutors said.
Chou, Yang, Tsai and Yeh gave more than 30 signatures to Chiu, they said.
The prosecutors’ office charged Chiu and Wu with “arranging bribes to compel a person to sign the candidacy petition of a specified individual.”
Prosecutors requested a one-year deferred prosecution for Chang and the four other individuals, and that they pay fines of NT$30,000 each and attend two educational lectures on legal matters.
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