Central Election Commission Hopes New Commissioners Take Office Soon for Smooth Election Operations

The Legislative Yuan voted on March 13 on the Central Election Commission (CEC) personnel approval case, with four nominees, including CEC Chairperson nominee You Ying-lung, passing, while three nominees, including Deputy Chairperson nominee Hu Bo-yan, were rejected. The Executive Yuan stated it would legally propose different candidates to fill the vacancies. The Kuomintang (KMT) caucus questioned the Executive Yuan's delay in issuing appointment orders more than two weeks after the Legislative Yuan approved the CEC personnel case, calling it a disruption to constitutional order. Today, the Legislative Yuan's Internal Administration Committee invited Minister of the Interior Liu Shih-fang and others to attend to review amendments to parts of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act. KMT Legislator Chang Chih-lun questioned that after the CEC personnel approval case passed, the handover and inauguration procedures have not yet been completed, and the CEC still cannot meet the legal quorum to convene a CEC committee meeting. Wang Hsiao-lin, Director of the CEC Election Affairs Department, responded that the CEC has been handling related matters through commissioner election affairs symposiums since November last year. Regarding when the new commissioners can take office, according to the procedural schedule for election work at the end of this year, the CEC must issue election announcements on August 20 and candidate registration announcements on August 27. Wang Hsiao-lin stated that the content of these announcements, the amount of deposits, etc., must be discussed and approved by the CEC committee meeting before they can be published in the election announcements. "Before this, a committee meeting should be convened as soon as possible." In addition, because the CEC has not held a committee meeting, there are currently six local election commissions, including Taipei City, whose next term commissioner candidates are awaiting confirmation. Wang Hsiao-lin said that the CEC hopes the new commissioners can take office as soon as possible and convene committee meetings to deliberate on various important election work matters, so that the election work for the public officials election at the end of the year can proceed smoothly. Chang Chih-lun further asked whether the unsettled personnel case would affect the nine-in-one elections; Wang Hsiao-lin replied, "It should affect it," as committee discussions are required according to the Organic Act. In addition, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chang Hung-lu asked during questioning whether the election schedule at the end of the year would be sufficient if the amendment to grant 18-year-olds voting rights passes, which would suddenly increase the number of voters by 400,000. Wang Hsiao-lin stated that the voter registration list must be completed 20 days before voting according to law. If voter data is added to household registration data before then, it should be possible to complete, but it will significantly increase election expenses, such as ballots and election gazettes. In response to the increase in the number of voters, whether to add polling stations and increase staff also needs to be reviewed. As for whether local election commissions have the capacity to bear the burden, Wang Hsiao-lin said it would be more rushed; if they could know whether the amendment passes earlier and start review operations now, it should still be possible to make it in time. (Editor: Hsieh Chia-chen) 1150408