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Sat, Nov 10, 2001 - Page 3 News List

December 1 elections: Parties shift into attack mode

With their campaigns now in high gear, political parties are blaming each other for isolating segments of the population and obstructing economic progress

By Stephanie Low and Lin Mei-chun  /  STAFF REPORTER

DPP Chairman Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) also lashed out at opposition parties, accusing them of boycotting government budgets aimed at helping the nation's youth and the aged.

Hsieh yesterday held a press conference in Kaohsiung City to condemn the opposition legislators' performance.

"The legislature failed to pass a variety of bills due to the opposition camp's boycotts, which became the DPP's worst nightmare," Hsieh said.

Hsieh added that opposition lawmakers even vetoed the government's NT$600 million draft budget aimed at improving the quality of Internet education in the nation's elementary and primary schools.

Hsieh then urged citizens to vote for the ruling party's candidates in the elections and improve the effectiveness of the legislature.

Prosecutors seize suspected bribes

Prosecutors raided a Taichung County Farmers' Association yesterday and seized about NT$6 million in suspected bribes for the Dec. 1 elections, according to local media reports.

Prosecutor Wu Wen-chung (吳文忠), from the Taichung District Prosecutors' Office, along with more than 20 prosecutors and police, raided the association after receiving a tip-off yesterday morning.

More than 20 bundles of banknotes, totalling about NT$6 million, were found in a car belonging to a section chief of the association.

The names of several townships in Taichung County were written on the packs, prosecutors said. Flyers for a candidate running in the Dec. 1 legislative elections were found with the money, although prosecutors would not say who the candidate was.

KMT legislator Liu Chuan-chung (劉銓忠), chairman of the association, yesterday refused to comment on speculation that the money would go to his major "pillars" (樁腳), or vote captains.

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