"Justice is served," Chen said, adding that the result was good for the city, since a re-election and the subsequent political tension were avoided, Taiwan's Central News Agency reported Nov. 16. She vowed to set a high standard for her city administration and make the citizens' welfare the top priority, urging her supporters to back the DPP legislative candidates.
Meanwhile, Chen's Kuomintang opponent Huang Chun-ying, who filed this lawsuit against Chen, said in a press conference the same day that he was disappointed with the verdict. The KMT regretted but respected the court's decision, party spokesman Su Jun-pin said in the conference. With KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou and KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung standing at his side, Huang exhorted his supporters to "transform their anger into power" and use their votes to fight back in next year's legislative and presidential elections. Ma criticized the court, saying it should defend social justice and ensure fair elections by denouncing such improper campaign tactics.
Huang expressed doubts over the verdict and questioned whether the Executive Yuan and Chen Chu had pressured the court. "I wonder how President Chen Shui-bian could have predicted the result?" Huang asked. During a DPP campaign visit in Yilan County Nov. 15--the day before the verdict was announced--Chen Shui-bian stated that Chen Chu would not lose the court case, the Chinese-language United Daily News reported that day.
Premier Chang Chun-hsiung denied this accusation in a Nov. 16 CNA report, saying that the government would never interfere in the court's decisions, suggesting that people "let all the disputes stop here" and that all parties work together to serve Kaohsiung citizens.
The dispute originated during the 2006 Kaohsiung mayoral election, in which Chen defeated Huang by only 1,114 votes, or 0.14 percent of the votes cast. Huang then filed a lawsuit on Dec. 28, 2006, asking for a recount of the ballots and a nullification of the election result. The controversy revolved around a "surprise attack" initiated by Chen on the eve of voting day that denied her opponent any opportunities to defend himself and therefore severely influenced the campaign, Huang claimed.
Huang was referring to a video clip publicized by Chen's camp, showing men giving money to people on a bus. Chen's staff called a press conference on the night before election day, claiming that the men in the video bought votes for Huang. The footage was aired repeatedly on pro-DPP news channels the day of voting, but the law prohibits any campaign activities after 10 o'clock on the night before ballots are cast. Chen's camp claimed the two men bought votes for Huang, while he argued after the election that the video was a fraud, an attempt to smear him.
Although the recount that began March 12 found only 457 questionable ballots and confirmed Chen's margin of victory to 1,171 votes, her mayoral status was nullified by the TKDC based on her violation of campaign regulations.
In the first trial, the court announced in a June 15 statement that the airing of the video was made at a time when campaigning was not allowed and concluded that this was an "illegal tactic," according to the Public Officials Election and Recall Law. Therefore, Chen should be held responsible for this illegal act of slander committed by her campaign team and be stripped of her title as mayor, the court stated. This was the first time in Taiwan's electoral history that the mayoral status of a special municipality leader was nullified.
Nevertheless, the Taiwan High Court's Kaohsiung branch overturned the verdict and ended the controversy. Weng Ching-chen, the chief judge in the second trial, stated in a Nov. 16 press conference that the high court interpreted Chen's move as slanderous but it did not constitute an illegal tactic, such as violence or intimidation. Chen did not violate any election-related laws, so the court handed down a verdict to reaffirm her status as mayor, Weng explained.
As for the two men in the video clip, Ku Hsin-ming and Tsai Neng-hsiang were indicted for vote-buying by Kaohsiung prosecutors Feb. 2. However, the prosecutors said in the indictment that Huang did not ask Ku and Tsai to buy votes for him and he was not aware of it. The result of the first trial of the case is scheduled to be announced Nov. 23.
Write to Amber Wu at amber0207@mail.gio.gov.tw