Mon, Mar 06, 2000 page3

• Chen tells voters to take KMT vote money

  VOTE-BUYING Campaign staff for the opposition candidate have said that the ruling party is offering NT$300 for votes in areas of central Taiwan

  • By Lin Chieh-yu / STAFF REPORTER
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  DPP presidential candidate Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) accused the KMT yesterday of having already started its "money tactics" by handing out at least NT$300 to voters through its local headquarters officials.

  Chen appealed to voters allegedly taking such money to vote for the DPP anyway and end the KMT's rule.

  "Everyone should learn from the heroic historical figure Guan Gong (關公), who was a famous general in the Han Dynasty," Chen told supporters in Taichung County as he recounted the tale.

  "After a major battle, Guan was sent by his master, Liu Bei (劉備) to the camp of Liu's major rival, Chao Chao (曹操)," he said.

  "Chao gave gold pieces to Guan and

  entertained him because he expected Guan to surrender. Guan ate the delicacies given to him by Chao and even took his money -- but then killed several of Chao's generals before he returned to Liu's barracks," Chen said.

  Chen said the KMT has stolen the people's money through corruption during its 55 years of rule and now has to bribe voters for small change to maintain its power.

  "You [voters] take back just a tiny amount of your money from the KMT," Chen said.

  "And if you take the money and vote for the KMT's candidate again, it means that you will continually allow the KMT to plunder your property," Chen said.

  DPP officials have recently highlighted Chen's slogan of "Take from Number 2 [KMT candidate Lien Chan (連戰)], but vote Number 5 [Chen]" in their campaign and have publicized vote-buying prices in various localities to highlight the problem.

  Taichung County Commissioner Liao Yung-lai (廖永來) said at a DPP rally yesterday that the KMT planned to give each voter NT$300 in the first phase of its money campaign.

  In southern Taiwan, DPP lawmaker Su Huan-chi (蘇煥智) said the KMT has already prepared millions of dollars to distribute to local leaders.

  Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), a DPP lawmaker from Kaohsiung City, said the KMT was offering people NT$500 in the city.

  "In the southern five cities and counties, Chen has distanced his rivals by getting around a 40 percent support rate in public opinion polls. But we have found that after the KMT pays money to residents, we may lose about 3 to 5 percent," Chen Chi-mai said.

  DPP Organizational Development department director Jimmy Kuo (郭俊銘) predicted that the KMT would give money to about 20 to 30 percent of the voters in areas in which he said people were more easily swayed by vote-buying tactics.

  According to the DPP's analysis, Kuo said, those regions might include some rural counties in central and southern Taiwan, such as Yunlin, Changhua and Chiayi Counties, as well as some Hakka-dominated counties such as Miaoli, Hsinchu and Taoyuan.

  "Furthermore, those regions are now also where independent candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜) has a high percent of supporters," Kuo said.

  Kuo added it was difficult to buy votes all around Taiwan this time, because National Assembly deputies -- normally reelected at the same time as the president -- extended their terms last year and so do not have to run.

  "The KMT could use their assembly deputy candidates, at least 335 persons from all electoral districts, to buy votes for themselves and the party's presidential candidate at the same time," Kuo said. "Then the KMT could easily estimate how many votes it can buy," he said

  Kuo stressed that the KMT's vote-buying tactics could still influence the result of the election and that at least 30,000 to 50,000 voters could be successfully bought off.

  "The problem," Kuo said, " is that it's difficult to provide evidence of such illegal behavior and to punish them legally."
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