Deep pockets likely to decide Yunlin race

With three days of campaigning left before the Yunlin County commissioner by-election, local faction leaders said yesterday that a key factor in deciding who will win the hotly-contested race would be whichever candidate was able to pay the highest price to buy votes.

While rumors about vote-buying continue to increase in both number and scale, the KMT's candidate, Chang Cheng-hsiung (張正雄), and independent candidate Chang Jung-wei (張榮肘?/CHINESE>) accused each other of having already paid out money in return for votes.

DPP candidate Lin Chung-li (林??禮), for his part, said that both Changs had already paid out between NT$500 and NT$1,000 to many residents, but that neither the police nor the judiciary have taken any action to arrest those responsible, nor have they been proactive in trying to prevent such behavior.

"We have received a lot of information regarding accusations that one particular candidate has been paying out money. We are requesting the Ministry of the Interior -- which should take responsibility -- to act resolutely," said DPP secretary-general Yu Hsi-kun in Yunlin.

Chang Jung-wei, meanwhile, said that only the KMT has the kind of money and organizational power to buy votes, while Chang Cheng-hsiung dismissed the comments as a tactic to discredit the KMT.

"It would be stupid to buy votes for NT$2,000 each in order to win a county commissioner post that has only two years of its term left," Chang Cheng-hsiung said.

The next general elections for commissioners are scheduled for December 2001.

DPP leaders also questioned the KMT about whether the party was acting sincerely in the electoral process.

"We believe the KMT originally planned to support Chang Jung-wei in private, to prevent Chang campaigning for former Taiwan Provincial Governor James Soong (宋楚瑜) in the presidential race," said DPP lawmaker Chien Hsi-chieh.

"And now, we can see plenty of local representatives campaigning with Chang Jung-wei, while at the same time the KMT's five locally elected lawmakers have not mobilized any support for Chang Cheng-hsiung," Chien said.

Yu also stressed that they questioned whether the KMT was actually doing its best to gain the support of the county's local factions, which had always supported the KMT in past elections.

Before the September 21 earthquake, Chang Jung-wei -- a former KMT member who is said to enjoy the strong support of many local factions -- had been widely expected to win the election.

But one local KMT official said that some factions did not actually want to see a victory by Chang Jung-wei.

"They are worried that Chang's faction may become the biggest one in Yunlin," the official said. Therefore, Chien said, only if the KMT "plays this game sincerely," could the three major candidates possibly share all ballots equally. If that happens, the DPP's Lin Chung-li might have a better chance of winning.

There are some 560,000 eligible voters in Yunlin County, and the voting percentage, according to past elections, is predicted to reach 65 percent this time around. Between 350,000 and 360,000 residents are therefore expected to cast ballots this Saturday.

See Also:

Yunlin County