As legislative hopefuls gear up for their campaigns ahead of the Jan. 12 legislative elections, last Friday's ruling on vote-buying allegations concerning the Kaohsiung mayoral election risks generating more controversy before their campaigns are over, political analysts said.
The Kaohsiung District Court acquitted Ku Hsin-ming (
The allegations surfaced when the campaign camp of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) mayoral candidate, Chen Chu (
PHOTO: CHANG CHUNG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
After Chen won the election, Huang went to court, demanding the election results be annulled on the basis that Chen's midnight press conference left him no time to respond to the accusation, thereby causing his defeat by the razor-thin margin of 1,140 votes.
Huang won in the first trial against Chen, but lost in the second and final trial on Nov. 16, in which the Kaohsiung branch of the Taiwan High Court said Chen's victory was valid.
Ku later admitted that he had rented two buses to transport voters to an election rally for Huang on the eve of the election and paid them on the return trip from the rally for their votes for "a candidate in the Kaohsiung mayoral election and a Kaohsiung City councilor candidate."
The court found that although the two defendants admitted they had paid NT$500 per person, the money should be considered payment for time and energy spent at the rally, rather than as a bribe as defined under the Public Officials Election and Recall Law (
The court said that payment made at campaign events organized by groups to solicit support for a specific candidate are not equivalent to vote-buying.
Kaohsiung Prosecutor Lin Yung-fu (
A "payment" is made by an employer to an employee, he said.
Ku offered individuals on the bus NT$500 each and asked them to vote for "a candidate in the Kaohsiung mayoral election and a Kaohsiung City councilor candidate," he said, adding that this does not meet the definition of payment for labor, and therefore constitutes a bribe.
The prosecutors have said they will appeal the ruling.
Chang Hsueh-ming (
Five supporters of Luo Wen-chia (
In another case, a campaign manager for Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Lo Chih-ming (羅志明) was found guilty in Kaohsiung last year, Chang said.
Chang said that prosecutors already suspected vote-buying would occur ahead of the legislative elections -- in particular because a new system will halve the number of legislative seats -- but the Kaoshiung District Court ruling risks sending the message that "walking fees" are an acceptable way to "solicit" votes, thereby increasing vote-buying activity.
The Supreme Court last week released a list of actions that constitute vote-buying -- including the payment of "walking fees."
Deputy Minister of Justice Lee Chin-yung (
He said any candidate or campaigners who pays such a fee to a voter would be charged with vote-buying.
Yang Chun-chih (
"Giving people money for participating in a campaign event has long been prohibited by our society's ethical norms," Yang said, adding that the incident would set a negative example for campaigners.
"Our electoral system has long been criticized because candidates tend to spend a great amount of money on campaigning ... This verdict was tantamount to encouraging candidates to give out as much money as they can," he said.
Yang, whose main research field is Japanese and US law, said that all ambiguities should be removed from the Election and Recall Law for Civil Servants, and all banned campaign activities should be named in the law.
US and Japanese law are clear on this matter, he said.
Yang said, however, that it remained unclear whether the ruling would affect the outcome of the January polls, and if so, how the results would be affected.
Chen Chao-jian (
The pan-green camp is eager for the ruling to be seen as an injustice in the hope it will solidify support for Chen, put to rest any doubts about the results of the mayoral election, and boost the DPP's electoral outlook for the legislative elections in Kaohsiung, he said.
The KMT, on the other hand, could play the ruling to its advantage by stirring up emotions, he said.
Chen Chao-jian said that both camps see southern Taiwan as the main battleground in the fight for votes.
However, the DPP will not be able to carve out more support in southern Taiwan by focusing on last Friday's ruling because southern Taiwan is already a pan-green stronghold, Chen Chao-jian said.
"It is vital that the DPP raises other issues and tries to shift the battlefield back to central and northern Taiwan," he said. "Only the political camp that has the power to set agendas will have the ability to expand its support base."
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
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
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard