英倫翻譯社/ Trsmaster

staff writer

About a hundred prominent academics, human rights activists and former politicians from the U.S., Canada, Japan and Europe will form the committee

A new International Committee for Fair Elections in Taiwan is likely to attract academics and former government officials from all over the world, reports said yesterday.

Joseph Wu, the former Taiwan representative in the United States and former chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council, is the driving force behind the new group, which will be officially launched at the Legislative Yuan Thursday.

Two of the candidates in Taiwan’s first-ever direct presidential election in 1996, former President Lee Teng-hui and then-Democratic Progressive Party candidate Peng Ming-min, will lead the group. Lee will serve as honorary chairman, while Peng will hold the function of chairman, reports said.

About a hundred prominent academics, human rights activists and former politicians from the US, Canada, Japan and Europe will form the committee, which would safeguard no outside force interfered with the right of voters to express their will through the ballot box, organizers said.

The committee was still unable to present a membership list Wednesday, reports said, but former US President Jimmy Carter reportedly turned down an invitation to join. Former Japanese Defense Minister Yuriko Koike was reportedly likely to join since she is a close friend of Lee, reports said. A number of Japanese academics, reporters and former officials with ties to Lee and to former Foreign Minister Tien Hung-mao are also likely to participate.

A large group of foreign committee members was planning to arrive in Taiwan on January 11, three days before the presidential election, in order to observe proceedings, the organizers said. They are likely to stay and observe the transition period if President Ma Ying-jeou loses the election to DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen.

The candidate elected on January 14 will only be sworn in more than four months later, on May 20, after what is the longest transition period in recent Taiwanese political history.

With only a month left in the race, major candidates have been stepping up their efforts, with the DPP launching a campaign to canvas voters at 1,000 markets across the country.