Kinmen County officials said the county government has been moving to eliminate the “ghost” population from its household registration lists to ensure that local elections are fair and to prevent its generous welfare benefits from going to non-residents.
The hunt for the “ghosts” — individuals registered as Kinmen residents without being born there or even having ever ived there — began in May and will continue until Oct. 15.
County household registration offices are checking registrations to ensure that a legitimate list of eligible voters is ready for the year-end “three-in-one” elections for county chief, county councilors and township administrators, the officials said.
A preliminary survey showed there were around 5,000 “ghosts” in the county, which has been a key transport hub between Taiwan and China since 2001.
However, a subsequent investigation of the 5,000 names of people has shown that the “ghosts” are elusive.
The county’s Bureau of Civil Affairs said registration offices had reviewed 470 household addresses and 951 people as of Sept. 15.
Only five were found to have illegally registered their household in Kinmen.
MYSTERIOUS GROWTH
The county’s population was 91,261 as of last month, 7,764 more than a year ago.
The population has grown at an unusually high pace in recent years, which some have attributed to the county’s generous welfare policies — which Kinmen boasts are the best in the country.
PERKS
Among them, education and student lunches are free through junior high school, public transportation on buses or boats is also free, and senior citizens get a monthly stipend of at least NT$3,000 per month.
Furthermore, Kinmen residents get special discounts on the county’s popular liquor kaoliang — a kind of strong liquor made of fermented sorghum — during Chinese New Year, Dragon Boat Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Residents can resell the discounted bottles at a profit of between NT$2,000 and NT$3,000 per festival.
This year, residents also received NT$3,600 in kaoliang vouchers on three different occasions to buy Kinmen Kaoliang Corp products at local outlets. Those products can also be resold at a hefty profit.
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