The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) won 15 out of 23 positions in yesterday's city and county council speakership elections, while the eight remaining posts went to independents.
In the deputy speakership races, the KMT won 14, independent councilors gained eight posts and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won just one.
The results were not without controversy as several of the winners have already been charged with or are suspected of involvement in corruption or vote-buying.
PHOTO: CNA
The Ministry of Justice said in a press statement that prosecutors nationwide had received many tips about vote-buying, and they would continue to probe the matter.
The re-elected speaker of the Tainan County Council, Wu Chien-pao (
Wu is alleged to have earned more than NT$1 billion (US$30.3 million) selling sand illegally quarried from the Tsengwen River (
Re-elected Changhua County Council Speaker Pai Hung-shen (
Re-elected Kaohsiung County Council Speaker Hsu Fu-sen (許福森), of the KMT, has a case pending against him in the Kaohsiung District Court. Hsu is charged with taking bribes and helping several unlicensed industrial waste handlers to secure waste disposal contracts. He is also charged with running a firm that dumped waste illegally.
Several Kaohsiung prosecutors appeared at the offices of the Kaohsiung County Council yesterday to supervise the election.
The city's prosecutors raided an illegal gambling house on Saturday night that was suspected of being used to generate funds for Hsu's speakership campaign.
Prosecutors suspect Hsu of offering councilors bribes ranging from NT$500,000 to NT$1 million in exchange for votes.
Hsu, Pai and Wu are all suspected of maintaining ties with gangsters.
Independent Tainan City Council Speaker Huang Yu-wen (
Huang allegedly received more than NT$100 million from Yiching Construction to arrange for the firm to win a contract in the Heshunliao (
Early yesterday morning the Tainan District Court issued an arrest warrant for KMT Tainan County Councilor Chen Tsung-hsing (
Chen's detention forced KMT Councilor Chou Szu-hai (
"We learned that Chen paid 22 councilors amounts ranging from NT$800,000 to NT$1 million. We are hoping that the councilors can report the matter to prosecutors voluntarily," said Yen Jung-sung (
Yen applied for permission to detain Chen late on Tuesday night, and the court agreed to his request early yesterday morning.
Independent Taitung County Councilor Lin Fu-hsiung (
His suggestion sparked a huge quarrel on the floor of the council.
Taitung County Councilor Li Chin-huei (
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)