Media personality and politician Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康) was indicted yesterday on charges related to his display of a marked ballot during a recall vote in July.
According to the indictment by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office, Jaw had already marked his ballot at a polling station in Taipei when he showed it to the media during a July 26 vote that sought to recall 31 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and one city mayor.
Jaw was warned by a polling station worker not to show his marked ballot, but he went ahead and displayed it briefly so it could be photographed by the media, before dropping it into the ballot box, prosecutors said.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The public display of a marked ballot contravenes election laws and carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison or a fine of NT$200,000, prosecutors said, citing articles 88 and 105 of the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法).
Jaw’s actions at the polling station were immediately reported to the police, and on Sept. 23, he was summoned by prosecutors for questioning.
He later apologized and told reporters that he had displayed his ballot merely to show that he had voted, but not to display his vote.
He said the case was a needless hassle and a waste of judicial resources.
As a prominent media figure and politician with extensive election experience, prosecutors said, adding that Jaw should have known the rules, but he deliberately displayed his marked ballot and later sought to downplay his actions.
Following his indictment yesterday, Jaw said he has always respected the judiciary and answered all the prosecutors’ questions.
He said he had hoped that prosecutors would not pursue the case or, in the worst-case scenario, offer him deferred prosecution.
However, everything should be done in accordance with the law, he said, expressing remorse and promising to be more careful in the future.
Jaw, a former chairman of Taiwan’s Broadcasting Corporation of China, served as a KMT lawmaker from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. Over the years, he has remained a prominent voice in local media and politics, and he ran unsuccessfully on the KMT ticket for vice president last year.
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