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.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
Chinese spouse and influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China videos that threaten national security, the National Immigration Agency confirmed today. Guan Guan has said many controversial statements in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” and expressing hope for expedited reunification. The agency last year received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification. After verifying the reports, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and explain her actions. Guan
RSS