Political parties are clamoring to pass amendments to the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) to root out corruption, after several officials were accused of fraud following last year’s nine-in-one elections. Last week, newly elected Tainan City Council Speaker Chiu Li-li (邱莉莉) and Deputy Speaker Lin Chih-chan (林志展) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) were charged with vote-buying, while Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Central Standing Committee member Hsiao Ching-tien (蕭景田) was released on NT$15 million (US$494,805) bail after facing a similar charge.
Chiu late last month defeated incumbent speaker Kuo Hsin-liang (郭信良) in a 36-21 vote for Tainan council speaker — an election in which three KMT councilors unexpectedly broke party ranks to back the DPP nominee. Soon after, prosecutors searched 26 locations and questioned 10 people, before Chiu and Lin were charged with vote-buying and released on bail of NT$500,000 and NT$200,000 respectively. Hsiao was charged on allegations of vote-buying on behalf of KMT Taipei City Council candidate Lin Hsin-er (林杏兒).
Taiwan has tried to shake off “black gold” in local politics and elections for decades, since the lifting of martial law in 1987 and the democratic reforms of the 1990s. However, politicians’ ties to organized crime, patronage networks and vote-buying have been difficult to remove completely. The corruption mostly stems from city, county and township councilors’ authority over local budgets, worth billions of dollars for the nation’s 22 administrative regions, as well as the enormous interests in local construction and businesses.
In 2015, then-Tainan City Council speaker Lee Chuan-chiao (李全教) of the KMT was indicted for vote-buying in councilor and council speaker elections. In response, the legislature amended the Local Government Act (地方制度法) to require that council speakers and deputy speakers be elected by open ballots. Nevertheless, those measures have obviously failed to eradicate election fraud.
In last year’s nine-in-one elections, prosecutors nationwide received more than 5,000 reports of alleged vote-buying, and authorities have filed to nullify fraudulent votes involving 187 elected officials, the Ministry of Justice said. Election fraud continued despite police vowing an anti-corruption campaign and political parties committing to running “clean” elections.
To eliminate vote-buying, the DPP and KMT have proposed amendments to the Election and Recall Act. Former Tainan County commissioner Su Huan-chih (蘇煥智) has suggested replacing the council election system with a proportional representation scheme based on votes for political party. Sankei Shimbun Taipei bureau chief Akio Yaita has suggested reducing city council speakers’ authority over local budgets to reduce the enticement for election fraud.
More importantly, political parties should show determination to cut ties with “black gold” politicians, not just suspending or delisting the membership of offenders after they are accused of fraud. Additionally, the electorate should vote for reformists, not just candidates pointing their fingers at others’ mistakes.
Vice President William Lai (賴清德), who was mayor of Tainan from 2010 to 2017 and well-known for refusing to attend city council meetings in protest of Lee’s alleged vote-buying, was on Sunday elected as DPP chairman. Lai and the DPP need to clean up the party’s rules for membership and nomination for elections. The KMT, the Taiwan People’s Party and any party interested in backing a candidate for president next year should do more to ensure a clean election.
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