Kaohsiung police have investigated a Kaohsiung man for allegedly posting false messages and photographs online insinuating ballot-stuffing had occurred during the recall election against Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) on Saturday last week, and prosecutors yesterday said that he would face charges.
Police on Saturday received a complaint about a person using the name Lee Fong-an (李豐安) on the messaging app Line writing: “I have taken a stack of ballots, already marked for yes on the recall vote.”
The message insinuated that civil groups backing Han’s ouster were engaging in ballot-stuffing, as the poster claimed to be an staff member at a polling station, allegedly also posting an ID card bearing his name.
After an initial investigation, the Central Election Commission (CEC) issued a warning saying that the Line post was fake news and that the photo of the ID card had been doctored, also saying that the post appeared to contravene the Civil Servants Election And Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), and urging the public not to spread them further.
Police on Tuesday identified and questioned the suspect, .
Prosecutors said the man admitted to posting the false information and the doctored photo during questioning.
“I was in an heightened emotional state at the time, and it was just a joke,” and he regretted causing trouble, they cited him as saying.
In related news, CEC officials said that rumors allegedly circulated by Han supporters claiming that 50 sealed boxes with ballots in favor of a recall had been delivered to recall support camps late on Friday night were baseless.
Another message claimed that more than 500,000 young people had changed their residence registration to Kaohsiung by end of January to be eligible to vote in the recall against Han.
According to city statistics, Kaohsiung’s population increased by 2,689 people from June last year to the end of January.
Kaohsiung prosecutors and police said that the messages were fake news and that investigators had found no evidence of 50 sealed ballot boxes.
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