Yesterday’s local elections produced dozens of indictments and detentions, as well as one incident of a mysterious ballot leaking out to the public ahead of election time.
In the day’s most bizarre occurrence, all three candidates in Hualien County’s Guangfu Township (光復鄉) ended up in detention after candidate Huang Rong-cheng (黃榮成) was taken into custody yesterday.
Until then, Huang had been the only candidate in the township who was not in detention. He and his two rivals for township chief, Chen Wen-kuang (陳文光) and Lin Yuan-jui (林元瑞), were charged with vote-buying.
All three candidates were from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
Hualien District Court on Thursday set bail for Huang at NT$100,000. However, Hualien district prosecutors later filed an appeal offering additional findings. As a result, all three candidates were detained.
Meanwhile, the wife of the KMT candidate for Chiayi County commissioner Wong Chung-chun (翁重鈞) committed a violation of the Election and Recall Act (選舉罷免法) yesterday when she showed up at the polls wearing a jacket bearing a “2” sticker. Wong Chang Tzong-mei (翁張宗美) said it was an accident and immediately removed the sticker when reporters pointed it out to her.
On Friday night, a homeless person sorting through trash found an empty ballot for the county councilor election in Jhudong Township (竹東), Hsinchu County. Initial reports said the ballot was handed to another person, who reported the incident to the local election commission.
After learning that a ballot may have leaked out, the local election commission immediately called together dozens of workers, who counted all the ballots into the early hours of yesterday morning. As no ballots were found to be missing, and an initial investigation determined that the mysterious ballot was authentic, Hsinchu District prosecutors were still probing the incident to determine where the extra ballot came from and how it leaked out.
The Ministry of Justice yesterday released its latest figures on cases of election-related bribery and intimidation under investigation by local prosecutors.
Figures showed that as of Friday night, 79 people had been indicted in 54 cases across the country.
A total of 4,298 cases have been reported and authorities had opened investigations into 2,426.
In the mayor and county commissioner elections, police have investigated 200 allegations of vote-buying and five allegations of election-related violence.
In the city and county councilor elections, 1,339 bribery cases have been investigated, while 61 cases of election-related violence had been probed.
Also as of Friday night, for township chief elections, 802 allegations of bribery were under investigation and 19 allegations of violence had been made.
Thirty-eight KMT candidates and their supporters have been detained, against 14 for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and its supporters.
Detainees with no political affiliation or unclear party membership numbered 95.
Twenty-four KMT candidates and supporters and two DPP candidates have been indicted, while 39 with no political affiliation or unclear party membership have been indicted.
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
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
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
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition