The Chairperson of the Central Election Commission (CEC) has been vacant for more than three months. Premier Su Tseng-chang recently nominated former Yunlin County Magistrate Lee Chin-yung for the position. Though it drew pushback from the opposition Kuomintang (KMT), on Apr 9, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) pushed the issue forward to the review committee.


During the nine-in-one local elections and the ten referendums that took place last year, many local voting booths were crowded with large number of incoming voters. And the results of ballot counting were announced while people were still voting at some locations, drawing questions to the elections' outcome. Chen Ying-chien, the Chairperson of the Central Election Commission (CEC) at the time, resigned from his post following the elections. Premier Su Tseng-cheng nominated former Yunlin County Magistrate Lee Chin-yung as the new CEC chairperson. The review process of his nomination has been stalling at the Legislature. On April 9, Lee make an appearance at the Legislature to meet with members of both the ruling and opposition parties and to push forward the review process.

I hope the nomination could proceed smoothly according to the parliamentary process, and that it could move to the stage where members of the review committee cast their vote. The date of the upcoming general election of president and of legislators has already been set to January 11 of next year. That means there are only 8 months left, the schedule is very tight.

The nomination of Lee Chin-yung drew strong backlash from legislators of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT). KMT legislator Johnny Chiang strongly criticized the nomination, saying Lee is not qualified for the position and that he will propose a law that aims to prevent Lee's nomination. The law will stipulate that those nominated for positions in the CEC must not have hold any position in a political party or have taken part in an election for public servants, or positions in the government or state-owned companies three years prior to the nomination. The goal is to prevent political interference in the CEC.

There has never been a case where a person who had held a position in a political party gets nominated to be the chairperson of the CEC. Is the lesson we learned from Chen Ying-chien not enough?

He has experience in elections, unlike past CEC Chairpersons who lack experience in the actual running of elections. I don't think this would be a problem for Lee Chin-yung.

KMT legislators voiced their opposition to the nomination at the Legislature. They cited reasons such as potential under-the-table bribery and Lee Chin-yung's affiliation with the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and called for the DPP to retract their nomination. However, their proposal was blocked by DPP legislators who occupy a bigger number of seats in the Legislature. After being nominated, Lee Chin-yung said he has canceled his position in the DPP to show that he is non-partisan, and that he will keep his promises and act independently as the chairperson of CEC.



去年九合一大選合併公投，投開票所出現大排長龍，邊開票邊投票等亂象，時任中選會主委陳英鈐請辭下台，行政院長蘇貞昌2月提名前雲林縣長李進勇，出任中選會主委，但人事案審查在國會一直延宕，眼見明年總統立委選舉將在1月11日登場，李進勇9號也到立法院，拜會朝野黨團

中選會主委被提名人 李進勇表示：「我們希望它順利的，能夠按照議事程序能夠付委，總統立委的選舉已經確定，在明年的1月11日要舉行了，所以到現在為止，時間不過是8個月的時間，時間非常的緊迫。」

李進勇人事案，國民黨團強烈反彈，民進黨團也曾一度撤回人事案，藍委江啟臣痛批不適格，曾揚言訂定「李進勇條款」，規定中選會委員，前3年不能出任黨職、參與公職人員選舉，以及政府機關或公營事業有給職職務，避免中選會受到政治干預。

國民黨立委 江啟臣表示：「從來沒有提過具有黨籍的人選，來擔任主委 有了一個陳英鈐，難道這樣的教訓還不夠嗎？」

民進黨立委 李俊俋表示：「他有參選的經驗，不會像過去的主委，比較缺乏實務上的經驗，在推動選務上有困擾，我想李進勇主委沒有這樣的問題。」

國民黨立委在議場內，發動抗議，以「反對酬庸」、「李進勇黨性堅強」為由，提案要求退回，但人數不敵民進黨優勢，遭到封殺。李進勇在被提名後，也聲明已註銷黨籍，以示中立、行使獨立職權、信守承諾的決心。