The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) headquarters yesterday activated a mechanism to combat possible vote-buying ahead of the party's presidential and legislative primaries.
In a statement, DPP Secretary-General Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) urged members to report violations of the party's regulations to a special team set up to combat bribery during the primaries.
Lin said the party will make public any reports of vote-buying and that such reports would be thoroughly investigated.
Lin's statement came in response to a story on the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister newspaper) yesterday, which quoted DPP Legislator Yu Jan-daw (余政道) as saying that some grassroots supporters who control vote banks in Tainan had told him they were charging candidates about NT$1,500 for one vote.
One of these "controllers" also said he had paid the party membership fee -- NT$300 per year -- for many people on behalf of certain legislative candidates, the story quoted Yu as saying.
DPP Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (
With the number of legislative seats halved to 113, the competition for the DPP's legislators-at-large seats is particularly heated. Nineteen people have registered for the party primary and candidate coordination will be needed in nearly 30 legislative districts.
Pressed by reporters yesterday to expand on his allegations, Yu urged the party to establish an investigative team to look into vote-buying.
He said he would refer cases to the party headquarters if he had any evidence.
But Yu said that vote-buying is not common among DPP members.
DPP Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) said similar "rumors" have circulated every time the party has held a primary, but no one has ever been caught because the individuals involved only work with those they know.
"The Public Officials' Election and Recall Law (公務人員選舉罷免法) does not apply [to primaries]. Without a reward or interference by public authorities, it would be very difficult for the party headquarters to look into the situation," Gao said.
As of last year, the DPP had 544,515 members.
In a bid to stop DPP politicians from controlling vote banks, in January DPP headquarters began allowing members to pay membership fees at convenience stores.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all