Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Chang Sho-wen’s (張碩文) father completed the registration process to run in the Yunlin County by-election yesterday morning, vowing to finish Chang’s term as a legislator.
Chang Sho-wen, who won a regional legislative election in Yunlin County in January last year, lost his seat earlier this month after the High Court found him guilty of participating in a vote-buying scheme organized by his father and annulled the election result.
Chang Hui-yuan (張輝元), director of Yunlin’s Irrigation Association, visited the KMT’s Yunlin branch yesterday to register for his candidacy in the party’s primary for the by-election.
“I can’t put up with it anymore. We’ve been patient during my son’s trial but we can’t be humiliated again and again,” Chang Hui-yuan said
Chang Hui-yuan was accompanied by Chang Sho-wen and local political heavyweights, including former Yunlin County commissioner Chang Jung-wei (張榮味) and a group of supporters.
Chang Jung-wei issued his support for Chang Sho-wen and accused his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) counterpart of interfering with justice.
KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) met with Chang Jung-wei and Chang Sho-wen later in the afternoon to talk about the party candidate for the by-election.
Chang Hui-yuan will be competing with Wu Wei-chi (吳威志), an associate professor at Yunlin Technology University, who said he would represent the party better with a clean image.
Chang Hui-yuan was found guilty of vote-buying in the first trial. He appealed the case.
Chang Sho-wen complained to Wu about being wrongly convicted, and said his father would not rule out the possibility of taking part in the by-election as an independent candidate if the party did not nominate him.
The KMT will have to determine whether or not Chang Hui-yuan is qualified as a party candidate because the revised version of the KMT’s “black gold exclusion clause” (排黑條款) states that members who are found guilty of corruption at their initial trial are not to be nominated in any elections.
The KMT is scheduled to complete the nomination process on July 29.
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