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Vote-buying taints DPP primaries

Results of the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) primary, in which controversial banker Hsueh Ling (薛凌) topped the list of legislators-at-large, had many shaking their heads about the party's determination to enforce reforms.

The DPP finished its legislative primary on Sunday with unexpected results.

Hsueh, the chairwoman of Sunny Bank (楊信銀行) and the wife of incumbent Legislator Chen Sheng-hung (陳勝宏), has been charged with insider trading.

Her marriage has also been criticized as unethical because her husband was divorced.

DPP officials yesterday expressed disapproval of Hsueh's performance and said her being listed atop the party's list of candidates for legislator at large put the party's image at risk.

"It did serious damage to the party, a combination of all the worst impacts," Legislator Tuan Yi-kan (段宜康) said.

Big problem

Legislator Shen Fu-hsiung (沈富雄), also a strong candidate vying for the legislator-at-large nomination this year, said vote-buying was the biggest problem in Sunday's primary.

Shen said the party has conducted seven rounds of revisions for regulations to select legislators-at-large in past years, but the changes have failed to stop rampant vote-buying.

"No matter how many times we change the regulations, money still talks and the human weakness still succumbs to it," Shen said.

Shen was referring to the practice of candidates paying the membership fees for party members in exchange for their support.

The annual party membership fee is NT$300, but many party members have left years of fees unpaid.

Although there was no conclusive evidence of vote-buying in Sunday's primary, Shen said it was because details of vote-buying practices were difficult to trace as they were conducted in a private manner among small member networks.

Shen said the vote-buying reflected the DPP's loss of determination to push for reforms.

Fierce competition

Sunday's primary contained polls to select candidates as regional legislators (with a constituency) and legislators-at-large (without a constituency).

A total of 13 candidates registered in the legislators-at-large primary, vying for the eight safest seats.

Regarding the competition for regional legislative seats, some candidates staged a surprisingly strong showing, such as former vice minister of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission Chuang Suo-han (莊碩漢), who, running for the first time, bested other veteran candidates to garner the highest number of votes in the district of Taipei County.

Competition in Taipei City was fierce with political stars such as legislators Shen Fu-hsiung and Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) finishing sixth in Taipei's south and north districts, respectively. However, those who didn't score well in the primary still have the chance to make up the overall rating in national opinion polls starting at the end of this month.
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