Premier Yu Shyi-kun yesterday ordered the Ministry of Justice to crack down on vote-buying in the upcoming by-election for the Kaohsiung City Council, after the Kaohsiung Prosecutor's Office arrested seven bribery suspects Tuesday night.
"Premier Yu ordered law enforcement agencies to keep a close watch for vote-buying on the eve of the by-election, in order to demonstrate the government's determination to eradicate the perennial scourge of `black gold,'" Cabinet Spokesman Chen Chi-mai (
Chen said that Yu had directed authorities to clamp down on suspected bribery cases quickly and severely -- so long as there was sufficient evidence -- regardless of the criminals' status or political party.
Despite the relaxed election campaign, the Kaohsiung anti-vote-buying task force has received reports of more than 30 cases of vote-buying, and four local vote captains and three voters have already confessed to accepting bribes as of Tuesday night.
Two of the suspects admitted that they had been offered between NT$500 to NT$1,000 for their ballots, while a vote captain was caught with a list of names of suspected bribe-takers. The task force is now attempting to determine if it was the candidates that were trying to grease the palms of voters, or simply overly enthusiastic vote captains.
The by-election on Saturday is being held to replace the 18 former councilors who lost their seats for accepting bribes in last December's council speaker election, which is the largest scandal in Taiwan's election history for a municipal government.
Chu An-hsiung (
The Southern Taiwan Society yesterday said that the local vote captains were still trying to buy votes because the punishment for bribery is so minor that no one is intimidated.
In a press release, the society asked the Ministry of Justice to revise the law and strengthen the punishment for bribery to uproot the inveterate vote-buying culture.
In the by-election, 47 candidates will contend for the 18 city councilor seats. However, 11 of the candidates are family members of the city councilors who were ousted, mostly the wives or daughters of dismissed councilors.
For example, Chu's daughter, Chu Ting-shan (
As the DPP's campaign mastermind, Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (
"I think the scandal surrounding the Kaohsiung City Council speaker election was the tip of the iceberg among the city councils around the country," Hsieh said. "However, the by-election is also a necessary labor pain in the development of Taiwan's democracy."
"It might be good for Kaohsiung City to be the first to tear off its scab," Hsieh said.
Hsieh predicted that the pan-green camp has a great chance of winning more than half the seats in the by-election, as long as the DPP's campaign momentum is maintained and vote-buying is effectively prevented by the law enforcement agencies.
"I expect this by-election will renovate Kaoshoung's election culture, and set an example for other cities," Hsieh said.
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
TRUST: The KMT said it respected the US’ timing and considerations, and hoped it would continue to honor its commitments to helping Taiwan bolster its defenses and deterrence US President Donald Trump is delaying a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan to ensure his visit to Beijing is successful, a New York Times report said. The weapons sales package has stalled in the US Department of State, the report said, citing US officials it did not identify. The White House has told agencies not to push forward ahead of Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), it said. The two last month held a phone call to discuss trade and geopolitical flashpoints ahead of the summit. Xi raised the Taiwan issue and urged the US to handle arms sales to
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
RSS