《TAIPEI TIMES》Amendments to election and recall acts sent to Cabinet

By Hsieh Chun-lin and Liu Tzu-hsuan / Staff reporter, with staff writer

The Ministry of the Interior has submitted bills to the Executive Yuan that would prevent foreign intervention in elections and ban people from using deepfake technology to sway election results.

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The ministry has drafted amendments to Article 59 of the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act （總統副總統選舉罷免法） and Article 58 of the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act （公職人員選舉罷免法）, which the Cabinet plans to finalize tomorrow.

The Democratic Progressive Party （DPP） caucus yesterday invited Acting Minister of the Interior Hua Ching-chun （花敬群） to discuss the amendments.

Legislators generally agreed to disallow people with criminal convictions involving organized crime, money laundering, firearms or narcotics from running in national or local elections, Hua said, adding that he hopes the final versions proposed by the Executive Yuan would live up to the public’s expectations.

Under the amendments, people who have received suspended prison sentences would not be able to run in national or local elections while on probation.

The draft would disallow those who are convicted of contravening the Organized Crime Prevention Act （組織犯罪防制條例）, the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act （毒品危害防制條例）, the Act Controlling Guns, Knives and Ammunition （槍砲彈藥刀械管制條例） or the Money Laundering Control Act （洗錢防制法） from running in elections.

The ban would also apply to those who contravened acts related to national security, including the National Security Act （國家安全法）, the Classified National Security Information Protection Act （國家機密保護法）, the National Intelligence Services Act （國家情報工作法） or the Anti-infiltration Act （反滲透法）.

A person would not be able to register as a candidate if they are convicted of an offense with a minimum punishment of not less than seven years and are sentenced to at least 10 years in prison, the amendment says.

Media would be banned from accepting commissions from people or groups from China, including Hong Kong and Macau, and other nations to run advertisements for election or recall campaigns, it says, adding that the commissions and the punishment handed out would be published.

Penalties for those who distribute deepfake videos on television or the Internet designed to sway election or recall campaigns should be increased, it says.

When deepfake videos are found, police can ask platform service providers to take down or rectify the videos, it says.

The amendments would also comply with the regulations stipulated in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling （管碧玲） said that legislators made some additional suggestions.

For example, some young people have been convicted of contravening the Money Laundering Control Act because they were framed, she said, adding that whether it would be appropriate to ban them from running for office their whole life should be further deliberated.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES