Five Nantou County councilors and Miaoli County commissioner-elect Chung Tung-chin (鍾東錦) could be booted out of office in lawsuits filed by prosecutors, following probes into vote-buying allegations in the run-up to November’s local elections.
Following an investigation into contraventions of election law during campaigning, prosecutors in Nantou County yesterday filed to nullify the votes involving 13 winning candidates, including five county councilors, seven township representatives and one village head.
Prosecutors said they have sufficient evidence to charge campaign managers, workers and people associated with the candidates, and had started the litigation process to revoke the positions of those unlawfully elected.
Those facing a legal motion to be stripped of their county councilor seats included three Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members — Lee Chou-chung (李洲忠), Tang Hsiao-fen (唐曉棻) and Lin Fang-yu, as they or their campaign staff were found to have contravened the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法).
Others included Wu Chi-nan (吳棋楠) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), independent candidate Lin Yo-yo (林友友), as well as independent candidate Hsieh Wen-hsuan (謝文軒), who was elected as warden of Mingjian Township’s (名間鄉) Songbo Village (松柏村).
Earlier last month, prosecutors in a vote-buying probe filed to nullify the wins of KMT member Ouyang Tsan-yue (歐陽燦岳), who won a city councilor seat in Nantou City, and independent county councilor Tseng Chen-yen (曾振炎), who won a Nantou County councilor seat.
A judicial investigation found evidence and witness accounts which led to the vote buying charges, the Nantou District Prosecutors’ Office said in a filing yesterday.
“The winning candidates were found to have provided instruction, granted permission, or made tacit agreements with campaign office personnel, family and friends, or vote brokers to distribute cash for votes during local district campaigns,” the filing said.
Prosecutors in Miaoli County announced legal procedures to nullify votes involving 14 winning candidates, including county commissioner-elect Chung Tung-chin, for allegedly engaging in vote-buying activities.
Chung, the former KMT Miaoli County council speaker, had his party membership revoked in September last year, so he registered as an independent candidate in the county commissioner election.
Chung’s major backers were led by then-incumbent KMT county commissioner Hsu Yao-chang (徐耀昌), and most KMT county councilors.
After winning the race, Chung sought to regain his party membership and filed a lawsuit at the Taipei District Court early last month, claiming that the KMT had expelled him illegally.
Labeled a “black gold” politician with alleged ties to gangsters, Chung has a prior conviction for murder and was allegedly involved in assault and gang-related violence.
Miaoli prosecutors also listed independent county councilor-elect Huang Sheng-chuan (黃聲全) in litigation to revoke county councilor seats, as well as nine winning township representatives and three village wardens.
Meanwhile, 13 winning candidates in Pingtung County could also have their wins revoked, prosecutors said, after an investigation into vote-buying allegations involving three county councilors, four township representatives, one city mayor, and five borough and village wardens.
In Taitung County, prosecutors found vote-buying evidence against six winning candidates, including five township representatives and one village warden, and filed litigation to invalidate the election outcome in those districts.
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