As election day draws ever closer, nearly 100,000 prosecutors, police officers, investigators and military police are working night and day to investigate vote-buying. Determined to root out vote-buying and campaign violence this year, the government is actively promoting its anti-vote-buying message.
Two thousand vote-buying cases brought to the attention of investigators have been handled in recent days. Those accused include legislators, township heads and vote captains (
Investigating vote-buying is inherently difficult. The vote captains, who do the buying, are extremely inconspicuous, appearing and disappearing like shadows. Only if tips are accurate and followed up by immediate investigation can culprits be caught in possession of incriminating evidence.
If law enforcement officials fails to arrive in time, the criminal activity is completed in a matter of minutes, and the evidence disappears, making the crime difficult to prosecute. If you wish to report vote-buying, please know that every second counts -- just as though you were fighting a fire.
Vote-buying is a criminal act, and someone caught in flagrante delicto can be arrested by anyone. In order to make every second count, it is best to seize the culprit at the scene of the crime and hand him over to the authorities, or at least prevent his escape and immediately call the police. While such actions might involve difficulties, there is a reward of over NT$500,000, so you can do something for yourself while also benefitting the country. It's well worth it.
Investigations into vote-buying must gather tangible evidence before suspects can be prosecuted, so evidence-gathering must be timely. Search and seizure, arrest and summons -- each link in the chain must be executed with lightning speed. Taking action a day, or even a few hours too late -- when evidence can easily be destroyed and the suspect has left the scene -- is all too common. Prosecutors, police and investigators should recognize the crucial importance of acting promptly.
The purpose of vote-buying is to get elected. If prosecutors can't make prompt indictments when investigating vote-buying, their performance will be marred. In the past, many prosecutors avoided handing down indictments before the election -- even if they had clear evidence -- for fear of criticism from candidates and the public and to avoid influencing election results.
As a result, candidates didn't care if their vote-buying was discovered. Prosecutors should completely discard such misgivings. An election should be a fair competition in which the best person wins. If one candidate has already purchased votes to create an unfair competitive environment, why shouldn't prosecutors hand down indictments before the election so that voters know the facts and can make an informed choice?
Rational voters know that an indictment does not amount to a conviction. They will pay attention to the demands of social justice and the content of reports before conscientiously casting their ballots. If a candidate has clearly carried out or benefitted from vote-buying, what right does he have to run for office and be elected?
In today's society, in which the boundaries between right and wrong have become blurred, whether an indictment would influence voters remains to be seen. But rational people will certainly demand that charges be brought whenever possible prior to elections because, at the very least, nobody wants to see a situation in which vote buyers get elected and honest candidates suffer defeat.
Although an indictment can be brought against a candidate who gets elected, that candidate retains his privileges as the incumbent prior to a guilty verdict and a ruling annulling the election victory. The Election and Recall Law (
Vote-buying has been around as long as there have been elections, but eradicating it is not an impossible task. People must wake up to and stand together against vote-buying, promptly reporting all occurances. Police, investigators and judges must act in a timely manner, gathering evidence and conducting investigations quickly and with attention to detail, handing down indictments and making judgements. If this happens, the eradication of vote-buying and improvement of the quality of our democracy will be more than just a dream.
Chu Nan is chief prosecutor in the Kaohsiung district prosecutor's office.
Translated by Ethan Harkness
Because much of what former US president Donald Trump says is unhinged and histrionic, it is tempting to dismiss all of it as bunk. Yet the potential future president has a populist knack for sounding alarums that resonate with the zeitgeist — for example, with growing anxiety about World War III and nuclear Armageddon. “We’re a failing nation,” Trump ranted during his US presidential debate against US Vice President Kamala Harris in one particularly meandering answer (the one that also recycled urban myths about immigrants eating cats). “And what, what’s going on here, you’re going to end up in World War
Earlier this month in Newsweek, President William Lai (賴清德) challenged the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to retake the territories lost to Russia in the 19th century rather than invade Taiwan. He stated: “If it is for the sake of territorial integrity, why doesn’t [the PRC] take back the lands occupied by Russia that were signed over in the treaty of Aigun?” This was a brilliant political move to finally state openly what many Chinese in both China and Taiwan have long been thinking about the lost territories in the Russian far east: The Russian far east should be “theirs.” Granted, Lai issued
On Tuesday, President William Lai (賴清德) met with a delegation from the Hoover Institution, a think tank based at Stanford University in California, to discuss strengthening US-Taiwan relations and enhancing peace and stability in the region. The delegation was led by James Ellis Jr, co-chair of the institution’s Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region project and former commander of the US Strategic Command. It also included former Australian minister for foreign affairs Marise Payne, influential US academics and other former policymakers. Think tank diplomacy is an important component of Taiwan’s efforts to maintain high-level dialogue with other nations with which it does
On Sept. 2, Elbridge Colby, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and force development, wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal called “The US and Taiwan Must Change Course” that defends his position that the US and Taiwan are not doing enough to deter the People’s Republic of China (PRC) from taking Taiwan. Colby is correct, of course: the US and Taiwan need to do a lot more or the PRC will invade Taiwan like Russia did against Ukraine. The US and Taiwan have failed to prepare properly to deter war. The blame must fall on politicians and policymakers