The legislature yesterday approved an amendment to the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) to address what was regarded as a loophole that allowed election candidates whose results were annulled because of bribery to still receive NT$30 in government subsidies for the votes they received.
After the amendment takes effect, candidates will be required to return the full amount of the subsidies to the government if they are found guilty of vote-buying regardless of whether they are elected or not.
According to the act, each candidate is subsidized NT$30 for each ballot they receive beyond one-third of the votes sufficient to win a single-seat constituency or half the votes sufficient to win a multi-seat constituency.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬), one of the initiators of the amendment, said the loophole has been exploited because the government had to give subsidies to by-election candidates even when the election was voided because of bribery.
The Ministry of the Interior’s data showed that the government spent more than NT$14 million (US$487,900) over a four-year period on subsidies for candidates whose election results were ruled invalid because of bribery.
The legislature yesterday also passed amendments to the Budget Act (預算法) and the Financial Statement Act (決算法) that will change the number of years government agencies are allowed to leave major construction reserve budgets unused from five to four.
When the period expires, the agencies must return the unused funds to government coffers. -Chinese -Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕), who initiated the amendments, estimated that the government would have an extra NT$60 billion available if agencies are only allowed to keep unused funds for four years rather than five years.
Also approved during the legislative session yesterday was an amendment to the Household Registration Act (戶籍法) that will save people time and money in applying for certificates proving the familial relationship between two individuals for the purpose of artificial reproduction, organ donations and inheritance registrations.
Currently, people who need these kinds of certificates are required to obtain household certificate transcripts from their relatives before they can request the certificates.
The new measure, expected to take effect in July, would reduce the amount of paper used to print household certificate transcripts, shorten the amount of time required for applications and avoid careless omissions, director of the Ministry of the Interior’s Household Registration Department Hsieh Ai-ling (謝愛齡) said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique