Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan
Speaking to reporters after voting at Taipei's Chin-ou Girls' Senior High School, Chen said that the ministry did not suffer from manpower shortages similar to those that crippled election inspectors' work during the legislative election last year. He said, however, that these elections covered only Taipei and Kaohsiung City and were not nationwide.
"A few months ago, the word on the street was that that there would be more bribery in Kaohsiung this year. Our information does not match this assertion as far as I can see. ... I am glad to see such progress made by prosecutors, voters and candidates themselves because it seemed to me that everybody was expecting a clean election and was working very hard toward that end," Chen said.
According to the statistics from the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors' Office, prosecutors arrested 805 people, of which 12 have been indicted -- including two Kaohsiung City Councilor candidates -- and 11 detained. Excluding the candidates, all those arrested were vote captains.
In Taipei City, according to the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office and the Shihlin District Prosecutors' Office, no-one was arrested or indicted for bribery.
However, Taipei District Prosecutors' Office spokesman Chen Hung-ta (陳宏達) said that prosecutors carried out their duties right through election day.
During last year's nationwide legislative election, prosecutors arrested 3,509 suspects -- all of them vote captains -- for bribing voters. Police later indicted 106.
The Public Officials Election and Recall Law (公職人員選罷法) regulates that a candidate's registration will be automatically canceled if convicted. In addition, if the candidate is convicted after he wins the campaign, his status as a public official will be automatically voided.
Meanwhile, prosecutors reported that three voters, two in Kaohsiung and one in Taipei, were arrested after ripping up their ballot papers -- a criminal offense in Taiwan.
According to the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office, 21-year-old Lin Che-june (
Yang Chang-mei
Han Chang-an
Kaohsiung prosecutors released him but have not decided whether to charge him.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition