New Power Party (NPP) members on Friday called on the public to sweep out “black gold” politicians in the year-end local elections, referring to politicians who have wealth wealth from dubious sources or connections with organized crime.
They said that many local councilors running for re-election have been charged with or convicted of corruption, vote-buying, embezzling public funds or gang-related crimes.
“Most people are concerned about ‘black gold’ influence in the upcoming campaign for local council seats, and do not want political parties nominating people who have been indicted or who have criminal records,” NPP chairwoman and legislator Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) said at a news conference at the legislature in Taipei.
Photo: CNA
Chen was joined by NPP council candidates, most of whom are under 30, in a demand for “clean elections.”
There are many “black gold” politicians in Taiwan, having been accused of corruption, vote-buying, bid-rigging or funding projects based on financial connections, they said.
“We demand that not just the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), but also smaller parties, uphold moral standards when selecting candidates for local elections,” Chen said.
She and NPP members displayed data collected from courts and prosecutors’ offices showing that since 2018, 51 KMT and 25 DPP councilors have been prosecuted for or convicted of corruption, including vote-buying or embezzlement, along with 27 councilors of no party affiliation.
“These accounted for 12.4 percent of all city and county councilors in Taiwan,” Chen said, adding that the data presented do not include campaign managers or neighborhood representatives who faced similar convictions.
Some of the cases mentioned by Chen and the NPP members involved taking bribes from contractors, embezzlement of public funds, bid rigging, illegal land grabs and colluding to profit from property development and government projects.
Regarding the six special municipalities, Chen said that Kaohsiung, New Taipei City and Taoyuan have the highest ratio of councilors being prosecuted or who have convictions, at 25 percent, 17 percent and 15 percent respectively.
NPP members cited a survey released last week by Taiwan People News showing that 60.6 percent of the public agreed that “black gold” influence in local politics is a serious problem, rising from 50 percent in a previous survey.
Additionally, about 61 percent are not satisfied with the government’s efforts to crack down on black gold politicians, they said.
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