An inexplicable result of the Dec. 3 local government elections was that although local prosecutors made significant efforts to investigate vote-buying allegations and found a great deal of hard evidence, some of the candidates accused of or detained for vote-buying were still elected after having played on the "tragedy" of their situation.
I want to give prosecutors credit for the effort they made. However, I also believe that the decision to look into vote-buying practices on the eve of the elections may have been politically motivated. That's why the issue of vote-buying cannot be resolved by prosecutors alone.
The crux of the matter is that what the prosecutors deem illegal, the public doesn't see as illegal. I think that if prosecutors alone investigate vote-buying the issue will be hard to resolve, and may even create other problems.
Douglass North, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1993, says that the phenomenon of vote-buying is only normal. He maintains that systemic change is incremental and gradual. In other words, Taiwan's vote-buying culture has existed for a long time and has become ingrained. Therefore,attempting to change this culture by legal means may be ineffective. Voters' understanding of the issue will not change simply because law enforcement officials adopt a different approach.
Taiwanese culture places great value on personal relations, and this manifests itself fully during elections. Although prosecutors define such behavior as illegal, candidates and voters may in the future develop new methods to circumvent law enforcement officials. Furthermore, forceful investigations into vote-buying may have other side effects.
For example, a few months ago, a Yunlin County prosecutor known for investigating vote-buying turned out to be accepting bribes. One of the reasons for such incidents is that prosecutors have to deal with a great deal of pressure involving personal relations. This leads to ethical problems.
Since the reasons behind vote-buying involve both political and social culture, the idea that prosecutors alone can improve campaign culture is as naive as asking the police alone to improve social order. We should not expect prosecutors to improve elections, because these practices are created by the overall political and social culture. It is more reasonable to say that combating vote-buying is not the duty of prosecutors alone, but also a task to be handled across government ministries, across political parties and ethnic groups and by the public at large.
So should we continue to investigate vote buying?
I believe that prosecutors should should change their approach. This can be done in three ways. First, a cooperative mechanism spanning different government ministries should be established. This could be directed by prosecutors, who could invite government agencies to jointly investigate vote-buying.
Second, efforts to probe vote-buying should not become politicized. Given prosecutors' experience in the latest round of investigations, they should ponder how to prevent law enforcement on vote-buying from being seen as a political issue. Third, a vote-buying prevention mechanism should be put in place. Information should be disseminated prior to elections, and public education campaigns should be employed.
Regardless of whether we are investigating vote-buying cases or preventing vote-buying from occurring, we should coordinate the efforts of different government agencies and boost public opposition to the practice. We must not rely on prosecutors alone to eliminate negative election practices.
Yang Yung-nane is a professor and director of the Department of Administrative Management at Central Police University.
Translated by Daniel Cheng
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