Legislator Chen Chin-teh said anybody convicted of corruption has to be precluded from running for president or vice president.

According to the current statute governing the election and recall of the president and the vice president, only those convicted of corruption and sentenced to more than 10 years in prison are forbidden from running. Those sentenced to a lesser term are not barred.

If the politicians are already elected, the Central Election Commission would have to start litigation to depose them. “Such a stipulation is too lenient,” said another DPP lawmaker, Cheng Kuo-chung.

Both DPP legislators denied their amendment targets Ma Ying-jeou, a candidate for the 2008 presidential election and the former chairman of the opposition Kuomintang, who was indicted for corruption on February 13. Should Ma be convicted, he faces a prison term of not less than seven years. Despite Ma’s indictment, the former Taipei mayor known for being a clean politician is considered a leading contender in the presidential race. Ma has maintained his innocence in the case that involves alleged misuse of his special allowance fund, a fund which many politicians use at their discretion. No dates have been scheduled for the trial, which is expected to last at least three months.

The DPP’s draft amendment appeared to be preempting the possibility that Ma could be convicted but be given a lenient sentence.

In the DPP’s draft amendment, according to Cheng, no one should be allowed to run as soon as he is convicted, regardless of how short his sentence may be. Chances are that no judge would sentence Ma to more than 10 years in jail. He has donated much more than he was alleged to have taken from his special allowances while he served as mayor of Taipei for eight years until the end of last year.

The Kuomintang is up in arms against the proposed amendment.

Tseng Yung-chuan, the Kuomintang legislative caucus whip, said the amendment would touch off another round of interparty strife.

Kuomintang lawmakers said they know full well the amendment aims at barring their ex-chairman from running for president next year. Ma resigned from the chairmanship after the indictment, in keeping with his promise. “We will do whatever we can to kill any proposal to amend the statute,” Tseng pledged.

The amendment may be formally proposed, but there is no chance that it may be placed on the agenda of the Legislative Yuan, let alone its adoption, said lawmakers from the KMT which dominates the legislature.

Ma refused comment. “I don’t know what that amendment is,” Ma replied to a press query.

Asked whether he would run, if convicted, Ma said he did not want to answer such an “iffy” question.

“Due process of law is being applied to my case,” said. “We should respect what the court will do, and no one should make a guess.”

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