VZCZCXRO8005
PP RUEHCN RUEHGH
DE RUEHIN #0520 0660902
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 070902Z MAR 07
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4349
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 6431
RUEHGH/AMCONSUL SHANGHAI 0864
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 1725
RUEHSH/AMCONSUL SHENYANG 5693
RUEHGZ/AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU 0043
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 7682

UNCLAS TAIPEI 000520 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AIT/W, EAP/TC, INR/EAP 
 
FROM AIT KAOHSIUNG BRANCH OFFICE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV TW
SUBJECT: Kaohsiung Mayoral Election Ballot Recount to Begin March 12 
 
 
REF:  A) 2007 Taipei 0273 B) 2006 Taipei 4125 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.  PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY. 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  In response to the lawsuit filed by defeated 
Kuomingtang (KMT) mayoral candidate Huang Chun-ying (ref A) on 
December 28, the Kaohsiung District Court ruled on January 29 that 
all ballots from the 2006 Kaohsiung mayoral election will be 
recounted and checked during the period  March 12-19, with any 
questioned ballots to be examined and verified by a panel of judges 
after March 19.  Subsequently, on February 5, the Court rejected 
Mayor Chen Chu's appeal for an immediate dismissal of the case. 
Huang now is prepared to accept any court decision on the results of 
the completed recount process.  Mayor Chen Chu's camp, however, has 
made clear its ongoing opposition to the recount and verification 
process.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) With regard to the ongoing lawsuit to nullify the 
Kaohsiung mayoral election, an assistant of Huang Chun-ying told 
AIT/K that Huang will accept any court rulings on the case if the 
court completes its investigation procedures by carrying out a full 
recount and a verification of questioned ballots.  Although Chen 
Chu's lawyers have not filed any more motions for dismissal, Huang 
is now concerned that Mayor Chen Chu's lawyers may be planning a new 
appeal to the court based on more technical legal grounds to 
postpone or even stop the recount process.  The assistant said Huang 
would definitely not accept a court ruling to stop the recount. 
 
¶3.  (U) In order to solicit all possible evidence of alleged vote 
rigging, Huang issued a press release on March 1 urging Kaohsiung 
residents to report any irregularities they witnessed at their 
voting stations on election day.  Huang says he wants to help 
identify further proof of irregularities to assist the court in the 
process of ballot recount and verification.  Furthermore, he offered 
a reward totaling NTD five million (USD 151,515) to encourage people 
to come forward.  Any person providing evidence that proves factual 
and useful to the court will become eligible for part of the reward. 
 Mayor Chen's spokesperson warned people not to be taken in by 
Huang's reward offer, adding that people providing forged evidence 
would run the risk of prosecution. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Mayor Chen Chu's lawyers failed in their original February 
5 appeal to the Kaohsiung court that requested Huang's nullification 
lawsuit be thrown out immediately.  Mayor Chen's assistant told 
AIT/K that, while disappointed by this early February ruling, they 
do not expect the recount to change the election result.  They are 
concerned, however, that the lawyers they have hired lack experience 
in election lawsuits while Huang's lawyers worked for the KMT on the 
2004 presidential election recount lawsuit.  This assistant also 
indicated that Mayor Chen is concerned the lawsuit could become part 
of a political agenda in the Kaohsiung City Council for KMT City 
Council members who wish to cause problems for Mayor Chen's 
administration. 
 
¶5.  (U) In response to a separate lawsuit accusing Huang's camp of 
vote-buying that Mayor Chen Chu filed against Huang Chun-ying on 
election day, December 9, 2006 (ref B), the prosecutors' office on 
February 3, 2007, charged two suspects with vote-buying.  However, 
the prosecutors' office dropped the counter-charges of libel filed 
by Huang against Chen Chu, saying there was no "actual malice" in 
Chen's original accusation of vote-buying. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Most Kaohsiung residents do not expect Huang's lawsuit to 
change the election result.  Nevertheless, the recount and ballot 
verification process could provide a means to resolve the doubts 
that some Kaohsiung residents have in regard to the legitimacy of 
Kaohsiung's current DPP administration.   What remains to be seen is 
whether Chen Chu would accept a judicial decision, based upon the 
recount, if it declares Huang the winner of last December's election 
and what it would mean for "rule of law" if she did not. 
 
THIELE 
 
YOUNG