Note: 
This summary constitutes no part of the Ruling but is prepared by the Department of Clerks for the Constitutional Court only for the readers' reference.
In case of any conflict of meaning between the Traditional Chinese version and the translated English version, the Traditional Chinese version shall prevail.

Headnotes

    When hearing a case concerning recounts, the TCC ordered sua sponte a preliminary injunction to prolong the safekeeping period for relevant elector lists and ballots to avoid irreparable and material damage to constitutional rights or public interest. 

Background Note

    This preliminary injunction concerns a case on the issue of recount regulations in the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (hereinafter "Election and Recall Act"). 

    In 2022, the petitioner (Kao-Chieh YEH) ran for township representative of the Fourth Electoral District of Xinfeng Township, Hsinchu County, but lost by the margin of two ballots. The petitioner filed for a recount with the district court but was dismissed because recounts for township representative elections are not stipulated in the Election and Recall Act. After an unsuccessful appeal to the Taiwan High Court, the petitioner filed for constitutional review on August 11, 2023.

    The Taiwan Constitutional Court admitted this case and ordered sua sponte for this preliminary injunction on October 20, 2023.
 

Summary of the Ruling

Holding

    It is ordered that the safekeeping period for the elector lists and ballots in all polling stations of Xinfeng Township’s Fourth Electoral District on the occasion of the 2022 Township Representative Election of Hsinchu County be prolonged until this preliminary injunction ruling loses its effect. 

Reasoning

1. Article 43, Paragraph 1 of the Constitutional Court Procedure Act (CCPA) stipulates that “As is required to prevent the basic rights protected under the Constitution and public interest from being irreparably and materially impaired, a preliminary injunction ruling, as the last resort, may be rendered by the Constitutional Court, on its own motion or the party's, in respect of the underlying disputes, the application of the impugned legal provision, or the enforcement of the impugned decision that underlies the petition, inter alia, while the petition is pending before the Constitutional Court.”

2. The petitioner is convinced that Article 69, Paragraph 1, First Sentence of the Election and Recall Act and Taiwan High Court Civil Order 112-Hsuan-Kang-1 (2023) are unconstitutional. The petitioner filed for constitutional review against said provision and civil order, which was later admitted. Considering that this case concerns recounts, it is urgently necessary to preserve the elector lists and ballots of the pertaining electoral district, to prevent the constitutional rights and public interest from being irreparably and materially impaired. As Article 57, Paragraph 6 of the Election and Recall Act stipulates that elector lists and ballots shall be put under safekeeping by election commissions of each municipality or county (city), the Hsinchu County Election Commission (respondent of this preliminary injunction) shall be ordered to do so.

3. This preliminary injunction ruling shall cease to be effective under conditions listed in Article 43, Paragraph 4 of the CCPA.