The Ministry of the Interior has plans to overhaul the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act. It aims to amend a total of 112 articles.


The Ministry of the Interior is planning to overhaul the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act. The proposed amendments include guaranteeing the voting rights of the physically disabled, implementing the spirit of convention regulations, and establishing an election advertisement identification system. This would require advertisements in publications during elections to include disclaimers. Outside funding will be banned. To help political parties promote their platforms, there will be televised platform presentations for legislator-at-large candidates. In the future, presidential and vice presidential candidates will be allowed to submit the signatures required for their candidacies digitally instead of on paper. Meanwhile, government office candidates may only be nominated by one political party, but this is not applicable to presidential elections. Most important of all, there are strengthened deterrents against election-related gambling. Those who run gambling rings on elections or recalls face up to five years in prison.

In addition, a collective penalty will be imposed on political parties if their candidates take bribes to abandon their campaigns or intentionally lose elections. They will be fined up to NT$50 million following court sentencing. The candidates will also be fined.

We're making the oversight of this type of behavior more complete for when political parties hold primaries. The government wasn't able to regulate them in the past. Primary-related disputes were privately dealt with or taken to courts or whatever.

The ministry aims to amend 112 clauses of the act. It claims it is trying to modernize the civil servant recall system, which is why it needs to be exhaustive. However, the issue of absentee ballots has been ignored. One Kuomintang legislator questioned if this is due to considerations ahead of the 2022 local elections.

The issue of absentee voting is of utmost importance. If the amendments to the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act this time do not include absentee voting, then I really believe these amendments aren't being applied to where they are most needed. Instead, this situation makes people feel like the amendments are being abused.

Is absentee voting more likely to be influenced by outside forces because of this law, especially in China? I think no one believes that there is the expression of free will in that place.

The ministry said the issue will be dealt with via referendum and it won't discuss the issue until there is practical experience in voting. The amendments will be sent to the Executive Yuan for review and then to the Legislative Yuan. They are expected to become applicable before the 2022 local elections.



針對選罷法修法，內政部提出修正草案，重點包括保障身障者選舉權，落實公約規範精神，選舉廣告實名制，規定競選期間刊登相關廣告，要載明刊播資訊，也禁止境外資金，為了利於政黨理念宣傳，新增不分區立委電視政見發表，以往以紙本連署，申請登記總統副總統的方式，則增列電子連署系統，而一位公職人員候選人，只能以單一政黨推薦為限，但不適用於總統選舉，這次修法最重要的，就是淨化選風，若是經營賭盤，可判刑5年。

還增訂搓圓仔湯連坐條款，就是已獲政黨提名者，若對具資格的候選人，以賄賂方式讓他棄選，法院判決確定後，推薦政黨也將受到連坐處罰，最高罰5千萬元。

內政部民政司長 林清淇表示：「政黨初選的時候，就把這個有搓圓仔湯，這些(行為)，把範圍(規定)得讓它更完整。因為以往，政府管不到政黨初選的問題，都透過他們私下去做，到法院去做爭執或怎麼樣。」

內政部大翻修選罷法，總共修正112條條文，強調是為了使選舉罷免制度與時俱進，讓草案更加周延，但外界討論已久的不在籍投票，卻沒有被納入，國民黨立委洪孟楷質疑，是否有因人設事？

國民黨立委 洪孟楷表示：「不在籍投票，絕對會是重中之重，如果這次選罷法，沒有把不在籍投票的規範納入的話，我真的覺得這樣的修法，沒有修到最準確的地方，反而是一個讓大家覺得，有弊端的修法。」

民進黨立委 羅致政表示：「不在籍投票，會不會因為這樣的法，更容易受到境外勢力的影響？尤其在中國大陸的投票行為，我相信沒有人會相信，在那個地方，能夠有自由意志的表示。」

內政部指出，不在籍投票，將從公投投票試行，先有事件投票的實作經驗，再來討論，以減少爭議，而選罷法修正草案將送行政院審議後，再送請立法院，預計最快2022年的地方公職人員選舉，就能適用。