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Luo strongly denies allegation

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Pan Wei-kang (潘維剛) said yesterday that the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) candidate for Taipei County commissioner Luo Wen-chia (羅文嘉) had clearly violated the Election and Recall Law (選舉罷免法) by giving people a "walking fee" to attend his campaign rally.

Pan said the essence of the claim is whether Luo had paid a "walking fee," not how much the "walking fee" was. She also called on the Luo camp to stop distorting the issue.

Luo yesterday tearfully dismissed the allegation that he had bought votes, saying that he would quit politics for good if the allegation proved to be true.

Luo's camp has offered NT$1 million (US$30,000) to locate the man caught on the video, who Luo's KMT rival, Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋), claimed was giving NT$150 (US$4.5) in cash to passengers to attend Luo's rally on Sunday.

Chou said yesterday that Luo's tearful remarks would not help to clarify the matter. He called on Luo to join him in urging prosecutors to publish the content of the tape.

"I don't know how much Luo's tears can clarify the matter. The whole thing could be quickly solved if he is willing to go to the Banciao Prosecutor's Office and ask the prosecutors to play the video in public," Chou said while at his campaign headquarters.

Expressing their confidence in Luo's innocence, 11 DPP legislators yesterday put their own political careers on the line, saying that they will quit their legislator posts if Luo is found to have been involved in vote-buying activities.

Another DPP Legislator, Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇), said he is willing to quit his political career if Luo is found to have bought votes or instigated vote-buying activities.

Painting the incident as "self-written, self-directed and self-played farce," another DPP Legislator, Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬), posed six questions and requested that the Taipei electorate not be fooled by the KMT.

Gao first cast doubt on the authenticity of the video and then questioned the time when the film was recorded. While it was clear that the incident had happened during the day, Gao said the time on the recording showed 8:23pm.

If the man was handing out NT$150, Gao asked how come the recipients did not give him NT$50 change.

Meanwhile, Pan also cited several other DPP candidates on suspicion of vote-buying, including Chen Ding-nan (陳定南), who is running for the top job in Ilan County; Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), running in the Taichung mayoral election; Wong Chin-chu (翁金珠), seeking re-election in Changhua County; and Su Huan-chih (蘇煥智), also seeking re-election in Tainan County.

Chen is accused of offering free dinner tickets in a bid to bribe people to vote for him. Lin's campaign staff were investigated for vote-buying. Wong has filed a lawsuit against the United Daily News for insinuating that she bought votes. Su is entangled in accusations that the DPP's Tainan chapter treated people to free barbeques.

In response, the DPP also listed the names of 25 KMT candidates who are involved in alleged vote-buying activities, including Lee Chao-ching (李朝卿), who is running in the Nantou commissioner's election; Taitung Council Speaker Wu Chun-li (吳俊立), vying for the top job in Taitung County; and KMT Legislator Cho Po-yuan (卓伯源), competing in the Changhua commissioner's poll.

Wu has been released on NT$1 million bail after being detained and questioned about alleged vote-buying.

Cho is alleged to have engaged in illegal lobbying and giving kickbacks in the purchase of railroad machine parts.

Additional reporting by Mo Yan-chih
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