Court rejects Lien's case to nullify poll election

Judges of the court ruled that no legal action can be taken against incumbent President Chen Shui-bian before the Central Election Commission makes the formal proclamation of Chen’s re-election, set for Friday,

“The main reason is that the plaintiff (Lien) is required to file suit between 15 days and 30 days of the CEC’s official announcement of the election result in accordance with the election and recall law,” said court spokesman Wen Yao-yuan.

“The election commission has not yet announced the result, so the court ruled to reject the lawsuit,” he said.

Kuomintang (KMT) Chairman Lien lost Saturday’s election by less than 30,000 votes — a margin of 0.2 percent — out of 13 million cast just hours after an assassination attempt created a swell of sympathy for Chen.

Lien has filed two lawsuits, one demanding the nullification of Chen’s victory pending a vote recount and the second urging that the poll be declared invalid because of what he said were multiple irregularities.

The first suit names Chen as the defendant while the second is against the CEC.

The court had no response yet to the call for an immediate recount of ballots as requested by Lien, though it has sealed all cast ballots cast at all polling stations throughout Taiwan and offshore islands as evidence for the suits.

Lawyers said that the court’s rejection of Lien’s demand is politically motivated with the aim of dragging out the recount.

They pointed out that the court contradicted itself, as it has already taken the action to detain the evidence while rejecting the lawsuits against Chen and the CEC.

President Chen and his ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) are pressuring Lien’s opposition alliance to accept a proposal to revise the rules of the election and recall law so that the CEC can start the “administrative recount” as soon as possible.

The lawyers pointed out that the “administrative recount” is only a “smokescreen.”

Under the present regulations, the CEC is the government agency handling the “administrative recount.”

Since the CEC itself is also a defendant named in the suits, the lawyers stressed, the commission is already disqualified from handling the vote inspection and recount.

They said the CEC cannot play dual roles as both a defendant in the lawsuit and the chief administrative agency for the recount at the same time.

This is why Lien is demanding a “judicial recount” supervised by judges for fair, transparent, and independent ballot inspection and verification, the lawyers added.

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