Politics

President apologizes for mentioning poll results

• Publication Date：11/27/2009
• Source： United Daily News

President Ma Ying-jeou, who doubles as chairman of the ruling Kuomintang, apologized through a party official Nov. 26 for mentioning the results of a public opinion poll despite a ban on doing so in the last 10 days before an election.

During a KMT Central Standing Committee meeting in Yilan County Nov. 25, Ma had brought up the results of the opinion poll conducted by a media outlet on the upcoming tightly contested magistrate election in the northeastern county set for Dec. 5.

According to the Election and Recall Act, reporting on, publishing, commenting on, or quoting the outcomes of opinion polls in public during the 10 days leading up to voting day is strictly prohibited. The maximum fine for violations is set at NT$5 million (US$155,068).

KMT Secretary-General Chan Chun-po said that the president was “deeply disturbed” about the incident and felt that he had to apologize to society. He explained that Ma was not aware at the time of making the remarks that campaigning had entered the final 10 days.

However, Chan stressed that Ma had not broken the law as he had mentioned the poll results in a private meeting of the party, and not in public.

Nevertheless, Chan said that Ma and the KMT will respect and support whatever decision the Central Election Commission makes in the matter.

Executive Yuan spokesman Su Jun-pin said after a Cabinet meeting Nov. 26 that he believes the CEC will handle the issue impartially and according to the law.

The Yilan Central Election Commission stated that it will send a written request to Ma to give an account of his side of the story within seven to 10 days. If it receives no response, the commission said an election monitoring taskforce will deal with the opposition Democratic Progressive Party’s complaint filed against the president and then send its findings to the CEC for review and to make a final ruling on whether Ma broke the law and should be fined.

The controversy that has arisen does not seem to have affected Ma’s planned campaigning activities. He is scheduled to attend a campaign dinner Nov. 27 for Lu Guo-hwa, the KMT’s candidate for Yilan magistrate. Then on Nov. 29, the president is set to return to the county for a third time to stump for Lu.