Prosecutors on Wednesday initiated an investigation of Kaohsiung Civil Affairs Bureau Director-General Tsao Huan-jung (曹桓榮) for allegedly telling supporters of Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) to interfere with a recall vote against Han, while pan-green politicians denounced the mayor and his team for devising ways to obstruct voting.
After receiving complaints from residents, the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office launched its probe of Tsao for alleged breaches of the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法).
Complainants provided evidence that Tsao on Saturday last week wrote on messaging app Line that Han supporters should not vote in the June 6 recall vote, saying: “We shall not vote, but we must monitor polling stations to put pressure on people voting to recall Han,” the office said.
Photo: Chen Wen-chan, Taipei Times
Tsao, a former head of the youth wing of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Kaohsiung branch, allegedly wrote the message one day after Han in a video posted on Facebook urged people not to “engage in any political activities” on the day of the vote and “those outside of Kaohsiung should not travel to the city.”
Pundits have said that Han and his team are attempting to reduce voter turnout, as votes in favor of recalling him need to exceed 25 percent, or 575,091 ballots, of eligible voters in the city for the motion to pass.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator (王定宇) said that the suggestion to “monitor voting” by Han’s administration and KMT officials is aimed at identifying who attends so they can divide people into “us” and “them,” which would lead some people to fear retribution.
“It is not right to put pressure on citizens exercising their right to vote,” Wang said. “It is an intimidation tactic, and the best way to fight such ‘dirty tricks’ by the KMT and Han’s team is for Kaohsiung residents to come out en masse and cast ‘yes’ votes.”
Taipei City Councilor Wang Shih-chien (王世堅) and other DPP officials have warned that other tactics are being deployed, following reports that members of Han’s camp last week attended a banquet in Taipei for talks with China Unification Promotion Party Chairman Chang An-le (張安樂) and members of the Bamboo Union crime syndicate.
Plans were made at the banquet for gang members and Han supporters to obstruct the recall vote by lining up at polling stations, where they would try to delay and disrupt the process, sources said.
Some of the tactics include filming the proceedings outside of the polling stations to intimidate voters, as well as having older people and gang members in line move slowly and cause delays, such as by not presenting their identification when at the head of the line, to prolong the process, with the aim of making people give up on voting on what is expected to be a hot day, the sources said.
Several DPP figures denounced the purported plan, saying that Han’s political career would be finished if a judicial investigation finds that he collaborated with gangsters to disrupt voting.
They urged Kaohsiung residents to not give in to intimidation, and to wear masks and hats while voting.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
RSS