A new election for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Central Standing Committee (CSC) is expected after a majority of committee members offered to resign over the party’s selective investigation into electoral bribery.
The wave of resignations, sparked by KMT Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) and 27 other members, came amid claims by some party delegates that almost every CSC member had bribed delegates with gifts during election campaigns, highlighting the bribery culture in the CSC election.
The CSC used to be the center of the party’s power structure, its members meeting once a week with most senior party officials to discuss party matters and approve major policies.
Prior to a directive by then-KMT chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in 2005 for a direct election of CSC members and the implementation of a district voting system, the CSC was elected by the 210 members of the Central Committee, which itself was elected by more than 1,600 party delegates.
Sean Lien (連勝文), son of former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and who is among those who resigned from the CSC, said the district voting system — which allows party delegates to cast votes at local branches — encouraged bribery during CSC elections.
“Vote-buying is getting worse because the system makes it easier for candidates to get a hold of the number of votes in a district,” he said.
Chen Ting-yun (陳釘雲), who also resigned, said the district voting system was the main reason behind the bribery problem.
“Gift-sending in the CSC election is a historical glitch and revoking the election status of two members will not solve the problem,” he said.
The KMT on Tuesday revoked the election status of Yang Chi-hsiung (楊吉雄) and Chiang Da-lung (江達隆) for giving gifts to party delegates. The move, however, was confronted by a group of party delegates, who said they received gifts from almost all the candidates.
“Candidates for the Central Committee and CSC elections send all kinds of gifts — from moon cakes to handbags. We were also invited to endless banquets during the election campaigns. It’s an open secret,” a delegate said on condition of anonymity.
The competition for CSC seats remained intense even though the function of the committee was weakened after Ma set up of the Zhongshan meeting in 2005 as a preparatory meeting with top KMT officials. This left the committee with little power and turned it into a rubber-stamp mechanism.
Election bribery was especially serious in this year’s CSC election, as the importance of the committee is expected to increase after Ma took over the chairmanship this month.
KMT Legislator Ho Tsai-feng (侯彩鳳), who did not offer her resignation until yesterday, said a by-election alone would not change the bribery culture.
“If it is determined to reform, the KMT Evaluation and Disciplinary Committee should continue the investigation,” she said.
Sean Lien said the party should scrap the district voting system and start a single election with all voting booths centralized.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition