Cabinet steps into vote reform debate

The Executive Yuan yesterday proposed revisions to the law that would bar party primary candidates found guilty of bargaining their candidacies during the party primaries from running for public office.

Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) authorized the revisions in order to consolidate the government's policy to eradicate "black gold" politics.

"Reform of the electoral system will help the development of party politics and construct a sound legal mechanism to sweep away black gold," Chang said at yesterday's weekly Cabinet meeting.

The Cabinet approved revisions to the Public Officials Election and Recall Law (公職人員選罷法), which stipulate that any individuals seeking nominations, if found guilty of "bargaining with others over their candidacies" (搓圓仔湯) in party primaries, will face charges carrying sentences ranging from one to seven years or fines of between NT$1 million to NT$10 million.

This bargaining could encompass agreeing with another candidate to stand down in exchange for money, vote-buying and vote-selling.

The draft amendments also stipulate that any individual who has been convicted of such bargaining will not be allowed to register as a candidate.

If, following the party primaries, anyone who has become a party nominee is suspected of vote-buying, that person may also face charges carrying sentences of one to seven years in jail or fines of between NT$ 600,000 and NT$ 6,000,000. In the case of someone who has already been elected to office, their election victory will be nullified if they are convicted.

The draft, proposed by the Ministry of the Interior, will soon be submitted to the legislature for review. If it is passed, prosecutors will be authorized to conduct investigations into any vote-buying in party primaries.

Following the DPP's decision to revoke the party membership of Wang Hsien-tang (王憲堂) for vote-selling in Taichung County, Wang maintained his innocence.

Wang, a member of the party's Taichung County chapter executive committee, was found guilty by the party's investigation team of trying to sell votes to candidates in the party's legislative primary.

Wang said on Tuesday night that he did not try to sell votes to Taichung County Councilor Liu Kun-li (劉坤鱧), who had reported his alleged misconduct to the party's headquarters. Wang added that Liu was retaliating against him because he had refused a request from Liu for the votes of 800 party members.

In response, Liu said yesterday afternoon that he reserved the right to pursue a lawsuit against Wang for his accusation. He also questioned why the party had made public that it was he who had reported Wang's misconduct, saying the investigation process was supposed to have been kept confidential.

Deputy party secretary-general Hsu Yang-min (許陽明), however, said that the party had kept the case confidential but former DPP Chairman Chang Chun-hung (張俊宏), revealed Liu's name to the media at Tuesday's press conference. Chang claimed that he thought the media already knew that it was Liu who had reported the case as Liu himself had held several press conferences.