In a bid to facilitate a speedy vote recount, Taiwan's
Kuomintang (KMT) opposition party announced yesterday it was
temporarily withdrawing a lawsuit that sought to void the result of
last month's "presidential" election.
The move came only two days after KMT candidate Lien Chan filed
a petition asking the island's high court to declare the March 20
election invalid.
Lawyers for the KMT said they intend first to focus on another
suit, which was filed last Monday, to nullify the narrow victory of
Chen Shui-bian of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and
demand a recount.
"We decided to temporarily withdraw the election nullification
suit," said Lee Tsung-teh, a KMT lawyer.
"We think we should let the court, which is already handling the
earlier case, go ahead with a full judicial recount."
On March 26 the island's "central election committee" certified
the reelection of Chen by just 0.2 percent, or less than 30,000
votes out of more than 13 million ballots cast.
Lien, however, has challenged Chen's razor-thin victory,
alleging the election was marred by numerous voting irregularities,
including a record 330,000 spoiled ballots.
He also claimed a mysterious election-eve shooting that slightly
wounded both Chen and running mate Annette Lu caused a swelling of
sympathy votes.
Opposition lawyers said they were worried the two petitions
filed with the high court would needlessly slow progress in
resolving the conflict.
They said their decision to withdraw the second petition was
based on concerns that the judges might order recounts in both
cases, increasing confusion.
A separate panel of judges would handle the second petition, and
might order a recount as an interim step in deciding whether there
were enough irregularities to order that the election be
redone.
"If the court decides to have simultaneous recounts in both
cases, and if the recount methods are different, then those could
interfere with each other," said opposition lawyer Lee
Yi-kuang.
"If the results of the two recounts are not the same, will this
not create even more social unease?"
The opposition lawyers yesterday also clarified their demands in
the petition for a recount.
The court earlier gave the two parties five days to iron out the
terms of a recount and they were expected to submit their proposals
to the judges late yesterday.
The attorneys told the court they wanted judges, not election
officials, to play a key role in the recount. The KMT has said
judges are more likely to be impartial.
The lawyers also want the recount to be detailed, with judges
examining each disputed ballot.
Chen favors having election workers handle the retally.
The lawyers said they knew that going against opposition demands
for a quick recount would slow the process.
"Even though the recount will need more time and people this
way, we think it's worth investing more time and people," lawyer
Tsai Yu-ling said.
(China Daily April 8, 2004)