Hsinchu City Councilor Fan Cheng-lung (范振龍) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was stripped of his office yesterday after being convicted of vote-buying, while in New Taipei City, residents accused KMT candidate Chang Chih-lun (張智倫) of attempted vote-buying by distributing liquor and red envelopes.
Fan in a second trial was handed a three-year, two-month prison term and deprived of his civil rights for four years, and the Supreme Court yesterday in the final decision rejected his appeal of the sentence.
Fan was not among the five candidates to win seats in Hsinchu County’s second electoral district in 2022, but when Chen Te-mu (陳德木) was convicted of vote-buying last year, Fan — who was next in line due to his vote count — replaced him.
Photo: Liao Hsueh-ju, Taipei Times
It is the first time in the history of local elections in Taiwan that members of the same party are ousted from the same public office back-to-back.
During campaigning in 2022, Fan disbursed money to local vote brokers and executives of the Fan family association, instructing them to give it to residents to secure their votes, investigators said.
Fan provided lists of eligible voters, who were to be given NT$1,000 if they were a Fan association member and NT$500 if not, people involved in the scheme told investigators.
Fan and several others admitted to vote-buying activities and were found guilty in February last year of contravening the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法).
They were initially handed suspended sentences because they plead guilty.
However, prosecutors appealed, leading to the second ruling, in which Supreme Court judges agreed they had committed a serious offense that undermined the electoral process.
Meanwhile, Democratic Progressive Party legislative candidate Justin Wu (吳崢) said in a briefing that his opponent in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和), Chang Chih-lun (張智倫), had handed out money and gifts to buy votes.
Wu demanded an investigation.
Videos and items provided by residents prove that Chang attempted to buy votes in activities that have been going on for weeks at neighborhood banquets and campaign events, Wu said.
“We demand that the authorities take action and rule Chang ineligible to run for legislative office due to clear evidence from members of the public showing Chang and his aides presenting bottles of liquor and red envelopes containing NT$3,000 to attendees,” Wu said, adding that Chang also gave checks of tens of thousands of New Taiwan dollars to communty associations.
Chang Chih-lun is the son of Chang Ching-chung (張慶忠), a former KMT legislator who owns several franchise motels nationwide and has been accused of illegal deals to take over public land.
Chang Ching-chung has also drawn criticism for his role in the 2014 attempt to pass the cross-strait service trade agreement with China by conducting a rapid roll call during a legislative session, actions that were part of the buildup to the Sunflower movement.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
Taiwanese barista Xie Yi-chen (謝溢宸) recently triumphed at the 2024 World Coffee Championships, taking home 1st place in the World Latte Art category. Xie, 28, impressed the judges in the final round with patterns of a whale, a moose, and a dragon in the three-day competition that took place in Copenhagen, Denmark from June 27-29, clinching the title of latte art world champion during his first time representing Taiwan on the world stage. At a press conference held by the Taiwan Coffee Association on Thursday, Xie said that creating latte art gives him a tremendous feeling of achievement. Speaking about his entries in
TRAVEL CONVENIENCE: The program is to shorten wait times while passing through airport checks and would start for Taiwanese from January next year Japan is to launch a new program to expedite entry procedures for Taiwanese starting from January next year. The Japanese government is planning to introduce new rules to shorten the time it takes foreign travelers to pass through immigration, thereby attracting more tourists to visit, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported yesterday. An airport preclearance program would be implemented to allow foreign travelers to finish some screenings at their departure airport’s terminals and undergo simple confirmation procedures upon arrival, it said. The program would initially be applied to travelers from Taiwan from January next year and could be extended to travelers from elsewhere depending
The annual Taipei Summer Festival, which starts today, is to tone down its fireworks displays, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said on Monday. Fireworks displays are to be held at the riverside site in Datong District’s (大同) Dadaocheng (大稻埕) area on four days at this year’s festival, with the first today, and then on Wednesday next week, July 31 and Aug. 10, the department said. There were eight displays last year, with the reduction aimed at minimizing inconvenience to local residents, it said. The first three shows, which are all on Wednesdays, are to last for five minutes, while the final