More than 800 allegations of vote-buying related to the Dec. 5 local government elections have been reported, a Ministry of Justice (MOJ) official said yesterday.
In the mayor and county commissioner elections, 74 bribery allegations and two allegations of violence have been reported, the official said, adding that the cases included problems with a “ghost” population in Kinmen County.
The “ghost” population refers to people illegally registered in Kinmen. One household was reported to have four times as many “ghost” residents as real ones.
In the city and county councilor elections, 449 vote-buying allegations have been reported, five suspects have been indicted and three suspects are in custody, the official said.
As for the township chief elections, 286 allegations of suspected bribery and eight allegations of violence have been documented, the official said. Eight cases have been open for investigation and two suspects have been detained.
The official said prosecutors would cooperate closely with police in cracking down on bribery and violence ahead of the polls.
People reporting information about alleged illegality could be eligible for rewards as high as NT$5 million (US$154,800) for tips involving mayoral and county commissioner elections, NT$2 million for councilor elections and NT$500,000 for township chief elections.
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