The judiciary has been making efforts to curb election irregularities ahead of the Nov. 29 elections, Minister of Justice Luo Ying-shay (羅瑩雪) said yesterday, adding that some of the schemes and tricks uncovered have surprised investigators.
“Some of these are shameful. They set traps to mislead prosecutors. We have also seen the production of ‘fake’ evidence, and the use of assumed identities [whereby] complainants pretend to report on themselves and then accuse the ministry of ‘political persecution,’” she said.
“We have information to suggest that a political party has discussed in internal meetings ways to set traps for prosecutors,” Luo said.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
Luo was responding to questions raised by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) acting caucus whip Alex Fai (費鴻泰) and four other KMT legislators during a visit to her office to discuss the judiciary’s efforts prevent election irregularities.
“We are not certain if these devious schemes have been carried out, but they could subvert the election process, turning it into an unfair competition,” she said.
When asked to expand on her comments, she said: “I don’t know which political party it is.”
Prosecutors would consider the different scenarios, but the situation is likely to become more problematic the closer it gets to election day, she said.
“With little time to take corrective measures, these [kinds of] actions might influence the election outcomes, so it is up to the electorate with intelligent minds to see the problem clearly,” she said.
Another delegation member, KMT Legislator Liao Cheng-ching (廖正井) said some candidates had planted their own people to run in races in their opponents’ districts, and had admitted doing so, but prosecutors chose not to investigate such cases.
Liao said he had evidence that prosecutors in some areas have close associations with certain candidates.
Later yesterday, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) took issue with Luo’s remarks, saying the minister’s comments seemed aimed at the party.
Luo had served as a lawyer for the KMT long before she became minister, Tsai said Luo appears to have violated administrative neutrality by “working in concert with the KMT to plant false accusations about the opposition.”
Meanwhile, in other developments, a report by Minister of the Interior Chen Wei-jen (陳威仁) said the judiciary has investigated allegations of vote-buying, election violence and other campaign irregularities nationwide, with a total of 1,391 cases involving 2,681 individuals as of 10am Thursday last week, according to figures from the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office.
The highest percentage of cases — 559 — involved campaigns for village chief and borough warden positions, with 934 individuals involved, Chen said.
The next-highest proportion involved campaigns for city and county councilor seats, followed by city council races in the five special municipality cities, the interior minister said.
National Police Agency Director-General Wang Cho-chiun (王卓鈞) said his agency has ordered all units nationwide step up their monitoring of possible campaign irregularities and gambling rackets.
Additional reporting by Wang Wen-hsuan
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