CEC, KMT still on collision course

President Chen Shui-bian was compared to a suicide bomber yesterday, while the Central Election Commission (CEC) and the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) remained on a collision course over the distribution of blank ballots in the coming legislative elections.

Both sides refused to back down, trading threats against charges of dirty tricks.

Premier Chang Chun-hsiung reiterated the legitimacy of the CEC and urged 18 KMT-controlled local election commissions to submit.

The CEC wants voters to receive all four ballots for the elections and two referendums at one stop in each of the polling stations. The local commissions insist that ballots be issued separately, two each at two stops.

Shieh Jhy-wey, director of the Government Information Office who doubles as Cabinet spokesman, repeated the CEC threat to fire all disobedient local commission chairmen.

They, along with commissioners and election officials, may be liable to disciplinary action as well as prosecution on criminal charges, according to Chen Ching-chun, secretary-general of the Executive Yuan.

It's time for the opposition party to back down, Shieh said. "The KMT cannot afford to make mistake after mistake," he added.

He regarded the KMT insistence on the two-stop distribution procedure as another mistake that follows many mistakes.

In Chingsui near Taichung, KMT standard bearer Ma Ying-jeou called for an end to the ballot distribution dispute and compared President Chen Shui-bian to a man "who shouldn't carry a gas tank and rush forward."

Many a suicide has been committed in Taiwan by a person igniting a propane gas tank, killing himself as well as those with whom he had a dispute to settle.

"Chen must have some knowledge of international relations," Ma said. "He shouldn't carry a gas tank and rush forward," he warned the president.

Ma likened Chen to a suicide bomber, who is trying to ram through what is regarded in Beijing as an "independence" referendum.

The referendum isn't one of the two to be held alongside the legislative elections scheduled for Jan. 12 next year. Chen wants to call a referendum on Taiwan's admission to the United Nations under the name Taiwan at the same time as the presidential election on March 22.

The United States is opposed to the independence referendum, while China vows to invade Taiwan, if any further move toward independence is taken.

In the parliamentary elections, voters are required to cast two ballots, one for a candidate and the other for a political party. Seventy-nine regional lawmakers will be elected, one from each single constituency. Another 34 at large will be chosen from among candidates recommended by political parties according to proportional representation.

Voters will also cast two ballots for a referendum for recovery of "ill-gotten" assets of the KMT and the other against government corruption.

Lawmaker Tseng Yung-chuan, KMT legislative caucus whip, again threatened to sue the CEC, if all 18 local committee chiefs were fired.

"Any such firing is against the law," Tseng repeated the threat he made on Monday. He said the opposition-controlled Legislative Yuan adopted a rider to the budget bill passed last Thursday.

The rider, which is part of the budget act, stipulates the ballots should be distributed at two stops.

"We'll initiate litigation as soon as any commission chairmen are removed by the CEC," Tseng declared. "The CEC will be sued for dereliction of duty," he warned.

By trying to take over the defiant local election commissions, Tseng charged, the government is "declaring martial law in disguise."

President Chen said not long ago he was considering declaring martial law. He changed his mind in less than 24 hours and announced he wouldn't declare martial law while he is in office.

Shieh Jhy-wey brushed aside the Tseng allegation as "aiming at confusing public opinion."

At least one local election commission chief heeded the CEC threat. Lin Cheng-che, mayor of Hsinchu, resigned as chairman of the election commission of his city.

But Hsiao Chia-chi, deputy mayor of Taichung who heads the election commission of the central Taiwan city, was defiant. "We have decided not to print an illustration on an election bulletin," he said.

The CEC wants the bulletin to show a route map of a polling station where voters are going to receive all four ballots at one stop.