Launching a book on election irregularities and vote-buying, the Wake Up Changhua Youth Alliance yesterday urged young people — who are generally perceived to be politically indifferent — to return to their hometowns to cast their votes or take part in local politics for a change.
“I was very shocked when I researched information on vote-buying. It’s just astonishing,” said Lin Ming-hua (林明樺), one of the coauthors of The Election Won Through Buying: An Observation of Taiwan’s Electoral Culture (買來的政權：台灣選舉文化觀察) and a member of the alliance, at the book launch.
“From 2009 to 2014, more than 300 candidates from local to national elections have been prosecuted or found guilty of vote-buying,” Lin said.
“Among the 48 members of the Changhua County Council, six have been indicted for vote-buying. Five of them have already been found guilty: That is one-eighth of the members of the county council,” she added.
Many young people might think that politics has nothing to do with them, but those who are elected through vote-buying would get their money back through corruption, Lin said.
“Over the years, I’ve participated in many protest movements against abusive development projects that make people suffer,” Lin said. “So, you might not care about politics, but you could still become a victim of politics.”
While it would be difficult to change the existing political structure, young people are the only hope reform is possible, Lin said, as she urged young people to return home to vote.
Coauthor Chou Fu-yi (周馥儀) said that a majority of the 300 people implicated in vote-buying are affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
Less than 10 people are affiliated with other political parties, which shows that these voting irregularities are a means for the KMT to protect its regime, Chou said.
“Many of these people who are involved in campaign irregularities are still running in elections, or serving on important positions within the KMT,” Chou said.
Chen Tsui-lien (陳翠蓮), a history professor at National Taiwan University, agreed with Chou, saying that although there have been local elections in Taiwan since 1935, vote-buying did not start until the 1950s when the KMT established its regime in Taiwan.
“The KMT had many ways to control local politics; however, vote-buying is the only way that still works and is effective,” Chen said, adding: “It is a national shame.”
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