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Lien Chan files suit for new poll
(China Daily)
Updated: 2004-04-06 00:07 Taiwan's opposition Monday filed its second
lawsuit in eight days with the island's high court seeking to nullify the highly
disputed "presidential" election and hold a new poll.
The request by challenger Lien Chan, also chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT),
came as part of his legal strategy to challenge the narrow re-election of Chen
Shui-bian, leader of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
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Taiwan policewomen remove a supporter of
Taiwan's main opposition Nationalist Party (KMT) in front of Chen
Shui-bian's office in Taipei on April 4,
2004. [Reuters]
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Lien filed a separate lawsuit last Monday demanding a recount of the ballots
of the March 20 election in which Chen won by a razor-thin margin. He cited as a
primary reason a record 330,000 invalid ballots and numerous voting
irregularities.
The opposition also claimed that a mysterious election-eve shooting that
slightly wounded both Chen and his running mate, Annette Lu, caused a swelling
of sympathy votes.
The high court held a hearing on Friday and gave the two sides five days to
iron out terms of a vote recount, including on what form the re-tally should
take and who will foot the bill.
On March 26, the island's "central election committee" certified the victory
of Chen by just 0.2 per cent, or less than 30,000 votes out of more than 13
million ballots cast.
KMT spokesman Alex Tsai reportedly said that Lien Monday filed a petition
with the high court for a new election because Chen "used fraud to gain power
... and people will question the legality of his power in the next four years."
The "central election commission" violated the law as it did not postpone the
"presidential" polls in the wake of the shooting, said Lee Fu-dan, one of Lien's
lawyers.
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| Taiwan policemen remove a supporter of
Taiwan's main opposition Nationalist Party (KMT) in front of Chen
Shui-bian's office in Taipei on April 4, 2004.
[Reuters] | The KMT lawyer was quoted by the
Taiwan-based ETtoday.com as claiming that Chen's failed "defensive referendum"
on whether Taiwan should beef up its military capabilities against the mainland
and hold peace talks with Beijing -- held at the same time as the election --
was illegal.
"The election should be considered 'invalid' because the referendum law
states that plebiscites on 'sovereignty' issues should not be held in tandem
with major national elections," he reportedly said.
The KMT move came amid a bout of resignations by three senior government
officials over the shooting of Chen.
Chang Si-liang, director-general of the "national police administration,"
told reporters Monday that he has submitted his resignation letter and was
waiting for it to be accepted.
Two other officials who earlier offered to resign because of the shooting
were "interior minister" Yu Cheng-hsien and "national security bureau" director
Tsai Chao-ming.
The resignation of both Tsai and Yu has been accepted, according to media
reports.
Also Monday, KMT lawmakers proposed legislation that would set up a special
task force to investigate the shooting.
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