The Pingtung District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday filed lawsuits seeking to annul election results of a total of 22 people who were voted into office in the nine-in-one elections last month.
Prosecutors said that three Pingtung County councilors, four Pingtung township mayors, seven township representatives and eight borough wardens are guilty of vote-buying.
According to the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選罷法), prosecutors can, within 30 days of the promulgation of election results, file a suit to annul the election results of officials suspected of vote-buying.
Among those officials prosecutors have accused of vote-buying are Pingtung Councilor Hung Tzu-chien (洪慈綪), the eldest daughter of slain fisherman Hung Shih-cheng (洪石成), who was killed by Philippine coast guard personnel during a confrontation at sea in May last year.
Hung Tzu-chien yesterday denied the charge and said she would use the judicial process to confirm her innocence.
The 45-year-old previously said that she was inspired to run for public office because she was deeply grateful to the residents of Siaoliouciou (小琉球), Pingtung County, who extended kindness and support to her family when they were struggling to seek justice for her father’s death.
She vowed to speak for women and for the families of fishermen, and to protect them from the agonies her family had suffered because of her father’s death.
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