Police will activate their mechanism against election-related violence and bribery six months ahead of the year-end legislative elections as the races are expected to be far more intense than those held in the past, a senior official said yesterday.
The official said that National Police Agency Director-General Hou You-yi (
Hou told the meeting that the top priority in the crime-fighting campaign would be cracking down on vote-buying and election-related violence, the official said.
As the elections will be the first held under the new "single-member constituency, two-vote" electoral system and as the number of seats in the legislature has been halved to 113, Hou said the competition was likely to be especially fierce.
This was why the mechanism to prevent election-related bribery and violence should be activated earlier than usual, he said.
To enhance efficiency, Hou said, a system of "heavy rewards, heavy punishment" would be put in place to encourage police officers to actively investigate suspected vote-buying charges.
While financial rewards for efforts leading to convictions in vote-buying cases would be substantially increased, Hou added, penalties for police units that fail to uncover major election-related bribery cases would be harsher than before, with the heads of staff or police bureau chiefs to be reprimanded, demoted or transferred to other positions or offices.
To prevent the inflow of foreign funds for use in vote-buying, Hou said, he and Criminal Investigation Bureau Director Huang Mao-sui (
Hou added that he had ordered a crackdown on illegal firearms following the shooting death of Taipei County Councilor Wu Shan-jeou (
Local police personnel should also step up intelligence gathering to prevent violent interference in the legislative elections, Hou said, adding that "we absolutely cannot allow a single shooting of a legislative candidate to occur."
Huang meanwhile encouraged police officers to resist pressure from local political factions in probing suspected vote-buying cases.
In addition to election bribery tactics such as handing out cash to voters or organizing hiking activities, National Police Agency officials said that they would be on the lookout for gambling games used to win voters' support.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
RSS