Taipei, July 28 (CNA) Taiwan’s Constitutional Court on Friday upheld the constitutionality of legal provisions used to punish individuals who changed their household registrations to vote in places where they did not live, work or study, according to the court.
The grand justices found the three provisions under Article 146 of the Criminal Code to be constitutional because what constitutes illegality is clearly defined and does not infringe on the rights to equality, vote, and freedom of movement enshrined in the Constitution. In addition, the corresponding punishment is proportional, Chief Justice Hsu Tzong-li (許宗力) said.
The article states that a person who intervenes in voting or falsifies voting results through illegal means, fraudulently changes household registration to be eligible to vote in a different constituency, or attempts to commit such offenses, shall be subject to a term of imprisonment of up to five years.
Taiwan’s voting laws are tethered to the household registration system, whereby citizens have to register their primary abode with the government. Eligible voters then have to cast their ballot at a polling booth in an electoral district where they have had their household registration for a minimum of four consecutive months prior to an election.
Twenty individuals found guilty of offenses under the article in five elections that took place from 2006 to 2018 asked the grand justices to rule on the constitutionality of the provisions, mainly citing the constitutional right to vote and freedom to choose a residence, as well as other reasons.
Among them, a resident of then Taipei County (now New Taipei), surnamed Hu (胡), moved his household registered to Hualien in February 2006 which enabled him to cast a ballot for his uncle who was running for village chief in June that year, moving the household registration back to Taipei County after the election. He was charged by prosecutors with interference in voting.
Hualien District Court sentenced Hu to a two-month jail sentence convertible to a fine and one year of deprivation of civil rights in a ruling that was later upheld by Taiwan High Court in a final verdict.
In another case, Liu Huei-tsung (劉惠宗) and the other two members of China Airlines’ labor union were found guilty of moving their household registrations in Taipei to Taoyuan in July 2018 so as to vote for their colleague in the Taoyuan mayoral election in November that year.
They each received a three-month sentence, convertible to a fine, two-years probation, and deprivation of civil rights for one year, when the Supreme Court upheld the ruling.
Despite ruling in favor of the constitutionality of Article 146, which the trio were found to have breached, the Constitutional Court ordered a retrial of the case at the Supreme Court, saying that the Supreme Court failed to take into account the fact that the union members commuted to work in Taoyuan for 20 to 30 years, despite all residing in Taipei.
Taiwan nationals can, of their own free will, choose to register their household registration at their place of residence or work, and given that the three union members met the four-month threshold to vote in the Taoyuan mayoral election after they registered households in the city, the Supreme Court’s ruling was tantamount to an infringement of their right to vote, the Constitutional Court said.
