Yunlin Prosecutors’ Office detained a borough warden yesterday on suspicion of buying votes for a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate for the Yunlin legislative by-election on Saturday.
Prosecutors and investigators said they have questioned 18 people, including Dounan Township (斗南) warden and borough wardens.
Office spokesman Chiang Te-lung (蔣得龍) said 11 borough wardens admitted that they each had received NT$1,000 to support the KMT candidate Chang Ken-hui (張艮輝), a professor at Yunlin Technology University, and one person was detained after questioning.
Chang’s campaign office has denied the allegation, saying that Chang would resign or not take up the seat if he were to be elected and the allegation proved true.
The incident also sparked political infighting in the KMT as Chang’s office fingered his rival, independent candidate Chang Hui-yuan (張輝元), as the mastermind behind the smear campaign.
Chang Hui-yuan’s son, former KMT legislator Chang Sho-wen (張碩文), challenged Chang Ken-hui’s camp to take them to court and threatened to sue them if they did.
The by-election has been called to fill the seat left vacant by Chang Sho-wen, who won the seat in January last year, but lost it earlier this month after the High Court found him guilty of participating in a vote-buying scheme organized by his father.
Chang Hui-yuan, who was found guilty of vote buying in the first trial, registered with the KMT to run in the by-election on behalf of his son earlier this month.
The KMT later rejected his registration based on the revised version of its “black-gold exclusion clause,” which states that party members who are found guilty of corruption in their first trial cannot to be nominated for any election.
Meanwhile, the KMT said yesterday it would discuss the party’s candidate for the Nantou legislative by-election at a meeting today.
The seat had been held by Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), who became premier on Sept. 10. The Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) states that a by-election must be held within three months, or in this case before Dec. 10.
As the local elections are scheduled for Dec. 20, the KMT said it hoped to see the Nantou legislative by-election held in tandem with the local elections. But it said the decision would have to be made by the Central Election Commission.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) today said that if South Korea does not reply appropriately to its request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, it would take corresponding measures to alter how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system. South Korea’s e-Arrival card system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in the “point of departure” and “next destination” fields. The ministry said that it changed the nationality for South Koreans on Taiwan’s Alien Resident Certificates from “Korea” to “South Korea” on March 1, in a gesture of goodwill and based on the
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
The New Taipei Metro's Sanyin Line and the eastern extension of the Taipei Metro's Tamsui-Xinyi Line (Red Line) are scheduled to begin operations in June, the National Development Council said today. The Red Line, which terminates at Xiangshan Station, would be connected by the 1.4km extension to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, while the Sanyin Line would link New Taipei City's Tucheng and Yingge stations via Sanxia District (三峽). The council gave the updates at a council meeting reviewing progress on public construction projects for this year. Taiwan's annual public infrastructure budget would remain at NT$800 billion (US$25.08 billion), with NT$97.3
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