Both the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office and the Shihlin District Prosecutors' Office warned potential political candidates yesterday not to buy votes while reminding them that the two borough-warden candidates recently implemented in a vote-rigging scandal have both been indicted.
"I would like to remind all candidates not to break the law. Two candidates were indicted and our anti-vote-buying crackdown is not finished so there will not be no holiday for vote-buyers," said Taipei District Court spokesman Chen Hung-ta (陳宏達).
According to officials, the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office has been investigating 50 alleged vote-buying cases and indicted two candidates while the Shihlin District Prosecutors' Office has been investigating another 40 alleged cases.
The two indicted candidates are Huang Kuo-huei (
If Huang and Wu win the campaign but are convicted, both of them will be automatically disqualified and the two boroughs will re-elect new wardens.
According to Chen, Huang tried to buy votes by giving away shopping bags, which were estimated to be worth NT$50 each, to his voters. Wu tried to do the same thing by paying NT$1,000 to each voter in his constituency. Both of them were indicted last week.
Shihlin District Prosecutors' Office said that candidates in its region allegedly employed many different methods to bribe constituents, including cash payments and free trips.
"Regarding these cases, prosecutors are working on them and will definitely indict these suspects when they collect sufficient evidence," said Shihlin District Prosecutors' Office spokesman Wang Jen-kuei (王壬貴).
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