The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday warned of prevalent vote buying in central and southern Taiwan and the possibility of election-eve incidents today, urging authorities to step up investigations and security measures.
While voter turnout is regarded as one of the three key factors in the outcome of tomorrow’s presidential and legislative elections, vote buying and possible incidents pose greater concern, DPP spokesperson Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) told a press conference.
Media reports of suspected vote buying were alarming and worrisome, Chen said, citing the case of Chung Shao-ho (鍾紹和), the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) legislative candidate in Greater Kaohsiung’s First District.
Photo: Reuters
Chung’s 50 campaigners were investigated on Wednesday for allegedly buying votes for NT$500.
Vote buying appears to be widespread in central and southern Taiwan, which the KMT has designated “crucial constituencies,” Chen said, calling on the judiciary to be proactive in its investigations of the allegations in those regions.
DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) also raised the issue on the campaign trail, saying in Taoyuan that there had been rumors of vote buying in which the presidential and the legislative elections were being “bundled.”
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
“If the rumors are true, it would be heartbreaking. If votes can be bought ... if the presidency can be bought, that would be the biggest disgrace for Taiwan and the -saddest thing that could happen to our democracy,” Tsai said.
The DPP also expressed concern over possible incidents prior to election day that might have an impact on the polls, such as the shooting of Sean Lien (連勝文), a son of former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰), on the eve of the special municipality elections in November 2010.
The incident was regarded by many analysts and observers as a determining factor in the outcome of one of the hotly contested elections, in which the KMT won three of the five mayoral seats.
“The last thing we want to see is a repeat of the 2010 shooting incident,” DPP spokesperson Kang Yu-cheng (康裕成) said.
Kang urged the National Security Bureau, which is charged with protecting the candidates, to increase its security for candidates, their families and senior politicians.
She also called on the media to refrain from sensational reporting, which could rile voters and incite conflict if an incident does occur.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the