As the campaigns for the Taipei and Kaohsiung mayoral and city councilor elections enter their final stages, there have been new developments in the investigations launched in connection with last year's three-in-one county, city and township elections.
The Ministry of Justice announced that district prosecutors around the nation have filed lawsuits requesting that the election of 62 county and city councilors and township mayors be declared invalid due to vote-buying, thereby setting an unwelcome new record.
The ministry's records showed that, in total, the three-in-one elections resulted in lawsuits from 12 district prosecutors against 35 county and city councilors and 27 township mayors asking that their elections be revoked, sending a brutal wake up call to local government.
lawsuits
In addition, this year's elections for village chiefs, borough wardens and township representatives had also resulted in prosecutors in Taoyuan and five other counties filing 26 lawsuits to have election results reversed due to vote buying, the second highest figure ever.
Two county councilors and two township mayors have already had their elections invalidated due to vote buying.
Officials at the Ministry of Justice said that past elections have normally generated less than 10 and no more than about a dozen lawsuits to have elections invalidated, but that officials this year have made an all-out effort to stamp out vote buying.
invalidation threat
Minister of Justice Morley Shih (
Shih added that final verdicts will be handed down in less than one year.
The four elected officials who have already had their elections invalidated are the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) Tsai Yuan-chen (蔡元珍), originally elected mayor of Wuchiu Township in Kinmen County; Chu Yu-hsuan (朱有玄) independent Hsinchu County councilor; Chen Fu-hou (陳富厚), independent Penghu County councilor and the KMT's Chen Tung-hai (陳東海), mayor of Shoufeng Township (壽豐) in Hualien County.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first