Candidates and officials in several counties and cities were arrested yesterday for allegedly offering money and gifts in exchange for votes, after Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said that the government has launched a major crackdown on vote-buying.
Ten people and another 52 suspected accomplices have been detained in police raids to combat illegal attempts to influence the Nov. 24 elections, Hsu said.
“Orders have been issued to arrest gangsters, underground betting operators and politicians who distribute gifts and cash for votes, as well as those who breach other election rules or organize illegal election betting pools,” Hsu told the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee in Taipei.
A Chiayi man surnamed Lai (賴) allegedly brokered votes for a city councilor candidate and has been detained with restricted communication.
Lai was arrested on Tuesday after raids uncovered cash and other evidence of vote-buying.
“Investigations showed that Lai handed out NT$1,000 to local residents in exchange for their promise to vote for a certain city councilor candidate,” Chiayi prosecutor Chen Mei-chun (陳美君) said.
The Miaoli District Prosecutors’ Office said it received complaints during a meeting on Monday of a local farmers’ association that officials working for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Miaoli County Commissioner Hsu Yao-chang (徐耀昌) were giving out food and other items in exchange for votes.
People who attended the meeting in Nanjhuang Township (南庄) reported that Chen Chien-an (陳乾安), Hsu’s campaign manager for Nanjhuang, allegedly handed out two sacks of rice and two bottles of dish detergent to each attendant at the end of the meeting.
The complaint said that Chen, who is secretary-general of the township’s farmers’ association, donned a campaign vest with Hsu Yao-chang’s name and showed a video recording in which he said: “I ask everyone here to please vote for Hsu again this time... If we give Hsu four more years, he will do more to provide good services as a way to return his thanks to the people here.”
In Kaohsiung, prosecutors summoned a city councilor candidate for questioning over reports that the candidate handed out ceramic bowls during a campaign rally last month.
Prosecutors believe that the bowls exceeded NT$30 in value, the limit for gifts to voters, but the candidate said that each bowl was only worth NT$25.
The candidate was released on bail of NT$50,000 after prosecutors said there was sufficient evidence to press vote-buying charges.
Meanwhile, prosecutors in Taitung County yesterday arrested a borough warden candidate after raiding his residence on suspicion that he gave voters NT$2,000 to NT$3,000 each in exchange for their votes.
The candidate surnamed Chen (陳) has also been accused of paying people to register in a new location using the address of a hotel in Chen’s constituency.
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