Chen: gunslinger at a poker game

There’s little difference between that popular tactic used by store owners and President Chen Shui-bian’s insistence on a one-stop distribution of blank ballots in the forthcoming legislative elections. He wants voters to receive all four ballots at one stop, making it extremely hard, if not impossible, to abstain from voting on a referendum he has proposed to recover what he calls “ill-gotten” assets of the Kuomintang (KMT). Of course, the same distribution rule will apply in the presidential election, alongside which his most controversy-ridden referendum on Taiwan’s admission to the United Nations as “Taiwan” will be held.

Voters will go to the polls on Jan. 12 to elect a new Legislative Yuan. They will elect their new president ten weeks later on March 22 to replace Chen, who has to step down on May 20.

President Chen knows full well only the one-stop distribution of ballots may get more than half of the electorate to take part in the referendums. To be valid, a referendum has to be voted on by an absolute majority of the eligible voters. His two referendums, called together with the presidential election of 2004, were invalidated because more than half of the voters refused to receive the ballots. According to the election law, those ballots issued count toward the half electorate quota, even if they are not cast. Six out of every ten voters will vote in either of next year’s two elections; if they are all compelled to receive referendum ballots at one stop in each of the polling stations, the president’s referendums will be valid. He doesn’t care whether the referendums will be adopted; all he wants is the referendums to be valid. Incidentally, a single majority of the valid votes cast passes a referendum.

The opposition KMT doesn’t want the referendums passed, albeit it has also initiated two — one against government corruption and the other on the Republic of China’s return to the United Nations under that name. The party has required the local election commissions in all 18 counties and cities, including Taipei, under its control to adopt a two-stop distribution of ballots for the elections and the referendums. A voter will receive two ballots for the Jan. 12 elections at one stop, mark and cast them, and then go to the second stop to repeat the process. That gives him a chance to stay away from the second poll, the one for the referendums.

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