The Nantou County commissioner election is a unique one, with a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate and a former DPP candidate battling one another as well as a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) rival.
It is widely believed that if the three-way situation continues, it will be more to the advantage of the KMT's candidate, Nantou City Mayor Lee Chao-ching (李朝卿).
Lee, however, has to overcome allegations that his wife, Chien Su-tuan (簡素端), has been conducting vote-buying activities on his behalf.
Chien had reportedly been giving out free gifts since July an an effort to persuade voters to support her husband. She has denied the allegations and is now out on bail of NT$1.5 million (US$44,753).
Previous vote-buying allegations have also come back to haunt Lee as his opponents have not hesitated to remind the electorate. When Lee sought re-election four years ago, many of his supporters, including vote captains, were questioned about vote-buying and at least nine of them were convicted.
Lee's main rival is Nantou County Commissioner Lin Tsung-nan (
The former member of the DPP's Central Standing Committee refused to step aside after losing the party primary to Tsai Huang-liang (
When Lin was elected four years ago, he became the first DPP commissioner in the county's history, garnering more than 94,000 votes, or 30,000 to 50,000 more than his pan-blue contenders.
Running as an independent is not necessarily a hindrance for Lin, since his predecessor Peng Pai-hsien (彭百顯) had also dropped out of the DPP to run for the county's top post in 1997. Lin became the first non-KMT commissioner in the county.
Last week, Lin cried foul, accusing Lee of breach of trust because Lee reportedly had agreed in writing three years ago not run in this year's polls and to endorse Lin's re-election.
Lee, however, said he did not break his promise because there was a precondition when he signed the accord -- that he could run if Lin failed to do a good job.
The Nantou District Prosecutor's Office raided Lin's office yesterday and issued a summons, asking him to offer an account in response to various vote-buying allegations that have been leveled against him.
On Wednesday, prosecutors discovered an excessive amount of cash at Lin's campaign office in Puli. They said they failed to get an adequate explanation from the office manager about the money.
Lin's wife yesterday tearfully accused Tsai of pressuring prosecutors into conducting the search.
She also berated him for conducting a smear campaign against her husband.
Tsai has denied both allegations.
He had, however, previously called on the KMT to yank Lee out of the race because of the vote-buying charges.
Meanwhile, Tsai has gotten into hot water himself by condoning physical clashes between his supporters and Lin's on the campaign trail.
Tsai also came under fire from DPP Legislator Lin Yun-sheng (林耘生), who has alleged that Tsai meddled in the selection of the train communication system for the Taiwan Railway Administration in 2002.
Since Lin Yun-sheng's father is Lin Tsung-nan, his allegation was seen as just a ploy.
Lee's campaign manager, Hsiung Chun-ping (熊俊平), said yesterday that their campaign strategy was to use KMT heavyweights' charisma to invoke the "good old days" of the KMT administration's rule.
"The endorsement of such party bigwigs as KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), KMT Legislator Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) and other KMT elites serves as the utmost guarantee of quality candidates," he said.
The latest poll, released last Friday by the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister newspaper), placed Lee ahead of Lin and Tsai. The survey put Lee's approval rating at 23 percent, Tsai's at 17 percent and Lin's at 10 percent.
What is worth noting is that more than 37 percent of respondents declined to state their preference, while 12 percent said that they did not plan to vote. Whether swing voters will come out tomorrow is seen as a key factor.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and Chunghwa Telecom yesterday confirmed that an international undersea cable near Keelung Harbor had been cut by a Chinese ship, the Shunxin-39, a freighter registered in Cameroon. Chunghwa Telecom said the cable had its own backup equipment, and the incident would not affect telecommunications within Taiwan. The CGA said it dispatched a ship under its first fleet after receiving word of the incident and located the Shunxin-39 7 nautical miles (13km) north of Yehliu (野柳) at about 4:40pm on Friday. The CGA demanded that the Shunxin-39 return to seas closer to Keelung Harbor for investigation over the
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
RSS