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進入《TAIPEI TIMES》 Taipei court rules against KMT’s Ting over election
Taipei District Court Chief Judge Huang Ping-chin speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
NOT MY BAILIWICK: The Taipei District Court said that as election agencies only follow the law, amendments would have to be undertaken by the Legislative Yuan
By Jason Pan / Staff reporter
The Taipei District Court yesterday ruled against former Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT） Taipei mayoral candidate Ting Shou-chung （丁守中）, who had sought to annul the result of last year’s mayoral election.
Ting on Nov. 24 last year was defeated by independent Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je （柯文哲） by 3,254 votes.
Ting four days later requested a recount and filed a request to have the result annulled. In the recount, Ting lost 303 votes.
He yesterday said that he regretted the court’s decision and would consider an appeal, accusing the Central Election Commission and Taipei Election Commission of numerous breaches of election law.
In his lawsuit, Ting claimed that more than 100,000 voters waiting in lines to cast their ballots watched live tallies from some polling stations on their mobile devices, affecting the outcome.
When he left the court, Ting was surrounded by a dozen supporters who shouted slogans such as “Invalidate the election result, we demand justice” and “The justice system is unfair.”
“Ting’s accusations were found to be only minor flaws in the process. These did not affect the final outcome and were not essential elements that could nullify the election result,” the court said in a statement.
As for the issue of people waiting to vote while tallies were being reported, the court said that it was a situation “outside of expected election procedure.”
“This took place because of an advance in technology and changes in society, which led to an anomalous result... Therefore, discussions are needed to amend the law, which is the purview of the Legislative Yuan. Election agencies can only conduct the process in accordance with the law, which is granted in the Constitution’s principle of the separation of state power,” it said.
“Even if we took into account all alleged infractions and ruled in Ting’s favor in all ambivalent situations, at most it would only swing 58 ballots in Ting’s favor, which would still not affect the election outcome,” Taipei District Court Chief Judge Huang Ping-chin （黃柄縉） said.
Ko on Facebook said: “My thoughts are... Hmm, I got it. Let us continue working.”
“We respect the court’s ruling. Ko as mayor will continue to cast his eyes toward Taipei’s development and, as always, bury himself into everyday work with diligence,” Taipei City Government deputy spokesperson Huang Ching-yin added.
There were some imperfections in the details of the election process, including voters checking tally reports while still waiting to cast their vote, Taipei Election Commission Deputy Secretary-General Yu Shu-yi said.
“The commission will review the situation and learn from it, but will not change our impartial stance,” Yu said.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
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