Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) on Wednesday rejected suggestions of large-scale voter fraud, saying it was unlikely in Taiwan’s mature democracy.
Following his third-place finish in the presidential election on Saturday, some of Ko’s supporters have suggested that voter fraud is to blame for the discrepancy between the party’s polling and the official results.
TPP internal polling was inaccurate not because they were faked, as some have suggested, but because it gave heavier weighting to younger voters, Ko told reporters, adding that the result would have been closer if the turnout were higher than 71 percent.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
The campaign was unsuccessful at reaching older voters and encouraging people to vote, he said.
There might have been some minor voting anomalies, but large-scale voter fraud is unlikely in a mature democracy like Taiwan’s, Ko added.
On Tuesday evening, Ko on Facebook wrote that many of his supporters had been contacting the TPP headquarters or posting accusations of voter fraud on social media, claiming to have seen hundreds of stolen votes, discrepancies in the count and other anomalies.
Although the Central Election Commission guaranteed there were no problems in the voting process, “so many mistakes of varying sizes have invariably raised questions among the public,” he wrote, calling for a better approach.
He also detailed the party’s internal polling methodology in a bid to dispel accusations that they had been faked to insinuate the race was closer than it was.
Additional reporting by CNA
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to 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), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition