Justice minister outlines problem of `ghost voters'

Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (陳定南) said yesterday that the so-called "ghost population" has no less influence than vote-buying in an election and that the practice should be viewed as illegitimate.

The "ghost population" refers to people who do not live in the households where their official family domiciles are registered, a phenomenon often seen in Taiwan in the runup to elections. The larger the ghost population, the more "virtual voters" there may be, an effective approach to influencing small-scale grass-roots elections.

Citing a recent verdict by the Taiwan Supreme Court based on Article 146 of the Criminal Code that says the "ghost population" may affect an election result, Chen said the viewpoint has widely been adopted by the prosecution, police and investigative authorities when dealing with such irregularities.

Although the "ghost population" is not the same as vote-buying, Chen said the situation can seriously affect the results of small-scale elections, such as the elections of city and county councilors and those of township and village chiefs.

He made the remarks while answering PFP lawmaker Shen Chih-hwei (沈智慧), who asked whether the so-called "ghost population" constitutes a criminal act.

Meanwhile, S.M. Yu, deputy secretary-general of the Judicial Yuan, stressed that the "ghost population" should be clearly defined by law.

Pointing out that verdicts on the issue by local and the supreme courts have varied, he added that the Judicial Yuan will call a meeting as soon as possible to forge a consensus on the issue.