Chang Cheng-hsiung (; born 24 November 1941) is a Taiwanese lawyer who chaired the

Central Election Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

from 2004 to 2009. Prior to his appointment as chair of the

, Chang had practiced law for 37 years. He served as legal counsel for dissidents arrested during the

Kaohsiung Incident The Kaohsiung Incident, also known as the Formosa Incident, the Meilidao Incident, or the ''Formosa Magazine'' incident,tang was a crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations that occurred in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on 10 December 1979 during Taiwan's ...

of 1979. Chang has also served on the board of China Aviation Development Foundation. Chang was nominated to the chairmanship of the Central Election Commission in June 2004. In June 2007,

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

legislators criticized Chang for scheduling elections for the seventh Legislative Yuan on 12 January 2008. The 2008 Taiwanese transitional justice referendum was scheduled for the same date, and local governments affiliated with the

Pan-Blue Coalition The pan-Blue coalition, pan-Blue force or pan-Blue groups is a political coalition in the Republic of China (Taiwan) consisting of the Kuomintang (KMT), People First Party (PFP), New Party (CNP), Non-Partisan Solidarity Union (NPSU), and Young ...

announced that voters within their jurisdiction would use two-step voting, in which legislative ballots and referendum ballots were obtained and cast separately, instead of one-step voting mandated by the Central Election Commission, in which voters would receive and cast legislative and referendum ballots at the same time. Chang spoke out against the

's decision, and stated that ballots cast via two-step voting would be ruled invalid. Chang later stated in December 2007 that voters could receive ballots separately if, during the voting process, they did not leave the polling place. Chang stepped down from the Central Election Commission in November 2009, expressing concern that a new commission was to be sworn in a month before

local elections In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct vary ...

, despite that fact that the terms of outgoing members would not expire until June 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chang, Chen-hsiung 1941 births Living people 20th-century Taiwanese lawyers 21st-century Taiwanese lawyers