PREMIER OUTLINES FOUR PRINCIPLES FOR VOTE RECOUNT
2004-03-24 18:52:03
Taipei, March 24 (CNA) Premier Yu Shyi-kun said Wednesday that a recount of votes cast in the March 20 presidential election will be conducted under the principles of "exactness, impartiality, transparency and legitimacy."
Speaking at a weekly Cabinet meeting, Yu directed the Central Election Commission (CEC) to prepare for a possible revision of the President and Vice President Election and Recall Law to lay a legal basis for the recount. "As the difference in the number of votes between the winner and the runner-up was very small, a recount will be conducive to forging mutual trust between the rival camps and stabilizing society, " Yu said.
Meanwhile, Cabinet spokesman Lin Chia-lung said the opposition "pan-blue alliance's" demand that President Chen Shui-bian issue an emergency decree to facilitate an immediate recount would destroy the judicial system, especially as Chen was one of the presidential candidates.
If the president issued an emergency decree at the request of the "pan-blue alliance," there would be doubts that a player was doubling as a referee, Lin explained.
Chen and his running mate -- Vice President Annette Lu -- won their re-election bid by garnering 6,471,970 votes, beating the "pan-blue alliance" ticket of Kuomintang Chairman Lien Chan and his running mate -- People First Party Chairman James Soong -- by a razor-thin margin of 0.228 percent.
After refusing to accept the election results, Lien filed a lawsuit to seek the election's annulment and demanded a vote recount.
Thousands of "pan-blue alliance" supporters are continuing a marathon protest in front of the Presidential Office that began Saturday night against what they called an "unfair election."
(By Luis Huang)
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