The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) yesterday said it had launched 984 investigations involving 1,447 individuals in relation to the special municipality elections to be held next month.
Unveiling the statistics, the ministry said prosecutors had probed 46 cases related to the five municipal mayoral races, 419 related to the municipal councilor polls and 519 cases related to borough elections.
Of the 984 cases, 900 concerned vote buying, involving 1,321 individuals. Thirty cases, involving 51 individuals, concerned election-related violence, and 54 cases, with 75 people involved, were related to slander suits over the elections.
So far, prosecutors have indicted two individuals on suspicion of vote buying, the ministry said.
The Democratic Progressive Party, which has called on the ministry to combat vote buying, said it feared Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidates could again engage in the practice.
Several KMT candidates were indicted or found guilty of vote buying during last year’s three-in-one elections and in the most recent legislative election.
Minister of Justice Tseng Yung-fu (曾勇夫) yesterday encouraged the public to refer any vote buying activity to prosecutors, adding that such behavior would not be tolerated.
The special municipality elections will be held on Nov. 27 for Taipei City, Sinbei City (the soon-to-be-upgraded Taipei County), Greater Taichung (a merger of Taichung city and county), Greater Tainan (a merger of Tainan city and county) and Greater Kao-hsiung (a merger of Kaohsiung city and county).
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
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