The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday established a task force to investigate allegations that Sunny Bank managing director Hsueh Ling (薛凌) bought votes in exchange for DPP party members' support in her bid for a legislator-at-large position.
The task force was formed following yesterday's complaint to party headquarters by former DPP member and Zanadau majority shareholder Su Hui-chen (
Su said yesterday that vote-buying in the DPP's primary was most rampant in two townships in Kaohsiung County -- Ta-liao (大寮) and Meinung (美濃).
PHOTO: LIU HSIN-TEH, TAIPEI TIMES
Su alleged that Hsueh had given bribes in the form of NT$500 in cash and gift boxes containing sausage, and that leaflets had been distributed encouraging recipients to exchange their votes for these items.
Su said that in addition to giving gifts, Hsueh had also offered improper loans to party members through Sunny Bank.
"The leaflets had one thing in common: They all asked voters to cast their ballot for Hsueh Ling," Su said.
Vote exchanges, which are deals struck between candidates in multiple-office elections, are common occurrences in the DPP's internal elections. An example of a vote-exchange arrangement would be an arrangement between a legislative candidate and a local chapter head in which the two agree to ask their supporters to back each other's candidacies. Hsueh is accused of vote-buying, a more serious allegation.
Su yesterday presented documents that she said indicated that Hsueh had granted improper loans to DPP lawmaker Lin Chin-hsing (
Su urged DPP authorities to look into the vote-buying matter, saying that having Hsueh at the top of the party's candidate list for legislators-at-large would taint the party's image and hurt the party in the year-end legislative elections.
The process for choosing at-large legislators is a two-round process. With one round completed, Hsueh still must perform well in a DPP opinion poll to win a spot on the candidate list.
"I've heard from many pan-blue supporters who have said they will vote for Hsueh in the DPP's telephone opinion poll to make sure Hsueh is on the DPP's legislator-at-large list. That way, the pan-blue alliance could cash in on the issue and wage a negative campaign against the DPP on the basis of vote-buying in the primaries. This would finish the DPP in the legislative elections," said the outspoken Su, who previously charged that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chief cashier Liu Tai-ying (劉泰英) had received kickbacks from her but then refused to grant her loans for the Zanadau Development (新瑞都) case.
The vote-buying task force will be headed by DPP Secretary-General Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄), who yesterday instructed lawyers to study the evidence Su presented.
In response to Su's request for immunity from party disciplinary action for witnesses who testify against Hsueh, DPP Deputy Secretary-General Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) yesterday said the party would consider a system to allow witnesses to testify with protection.
According to the party's rules, candidates involved in vote-buying will lose their spots on the party's candidate list, while party members who accept bribes will be suspended from the party for up to three years.
Meanwhile, amid the vote-buying controversy, senior DPP Legislator Yen Ching-fu (
Yen said the DPP faces grave danger of losing the legislative battle if it can't face up to vote-buying problems. However, some observers said that Yeh had withdrawn because he didn't perform well in the primary's first round.
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