The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) yesterday said it had launched 984 investigations involving 1,447 individuals in relation to the special municipality elections to be held next month.
Unveiling the statistics, the ministry said prosecutors had probed 46 cases related to the five municipal mayoral races, 419 related to the municipal councilor polls and 519 cases related to borough elections.
Of the 984 cases, 900 concerned vote buying, involving 1,321 individuals. Thirty cases, involving 51 individuals, concerned election-related violence, and 54 cases, with 75 people involved, were related to slander suits over the elections.
So far, prosecutors have indicted two individuals on suspicion of vote buying, the ministry said.
The Democratic Progressive Party, which has called on the ministry to combat vote buying, said it feared Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidates could again engage in the practice.
Several KMT candidates were indicted or found guilty of vote buying during last year’s three-in-one elections and in the most recent legislative election.
Minister of Justice Tseng Yung-fu (曾勇夫) yesterday encouraged the public to refer any vote buying activity to prosecutors, adding that such behavior would not be tolerated.
The special municipality elections will be held on Nov. 27 for Taipei City, Sinbei City (the soon-to-be-upgraded Taipei County), Greater Taichung (a merger of Taichung city and county), Greater Tainan (a merger of Tainan city and county) and Greater Kao-hsiung (a merger of Kaohsiung city and county).
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