Several convictions of local councilors for vote-buying have changed election outcomes in electoral districts across the country.
In Hsinchu County, Hukou Township (湖口) councilor Chen Teh-mu (陳德木) and township representative Lo Juei-chu (羅瑞珠), both of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), were stripped of their posts in a court ruling on Friday.
Prosecutors indicted Chen and Lo after evidence emerged of their staff disbursing NT$1,000 bills to local residents in exchange for votes during the run-up to the nine-in-one elections last year.
Chen was on Jan. 19 convicted under the Criminal Code’s offenses related to interference with voting, and received a three-year-and-eight-month sentence.
Friday’s court decision rendered Chen’s and Lo’s elections void, but the ruling can be appealed, Hsinchu Chief Prosecutor Chang Chieh-chin (張介欽) said.
“Candidates who won due to vote-buying must face severe punishment,” Chang said.
A court in Nantou County on Friday convicted former county councilor candidate Wang Yen-chu (王燕珠), an independent who did not win a seat in the November election, on vote-buying charges.
Investigators found that Wang handed NT$500 in cash to residents during campaigns, and sentenced her to a three-year-and-eight-month term for contravening the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法).
Prosecutors on Thursday indicted Taoyuan city councilor candidate Wu Chung-hsien (吳宗憲) on vote-buying charges, based on evidence of disbursing NT$600 in cash to residents in exchange for votes.
Wu had served as a Taoyuan city councilor for three terms, but did not win a seat in the November election.
Chiayi County judges on Friday invalided the election results of two local candidates who won village and borough warden posts in November’s election, convicting them for exchanging cash for votes during campaigns.
In Yilan County, Sansing Township (三星) village warden Chang Hao-tseng (張浩增) was on Friday stripped of his post after judges found him guilty of vote-buying.
Pingtung County judges on Thursday convicted independent candidate Chen Mao-nan (陳懋楠) for giving a family NT$6,000 in exchange for votes, and sentenced him to a 20-month jail term.
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